Run (The Last of Us)
by DarkWolf Publications
Summary: This happens after the main plot of the game. Delsin, an immune teenager, meets Joel and Ellie and goes back to live with them. Delsin starts to feel attracted to Ellie, and pretty soon he'll have more to confront than the Infected. If you'd like to leave constructive criticism or fave it please do! It helps me improve! Rated M for Language, violence and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Rule number 1

His feet slapped on the cold pavement. He looked behind him, just to assure himself that this was real. He was being chased, there was no way out of it. He jumped, and climbed the chain-link fence in a few seconds, but they were still hot on his tail, and he was running out of places to run. Suddenly, he saw a fire escape, and leaped for it, barely catching the bottom rung. It was rusted shut, so he pulled himself up and into the decrepit, moss-covered building. He heard the awful groans of the Infected as they ran right past him, the clickers making their awful sounds. Numbly, he reached into his pack and grabbed some beef jerky, shoving it in his mouth and forcing himself to chew and swallow. He knew he couldn't avoid them for long. Nervously, he fingered his tomahawks, which hung from his belt attached by leather thongs. Despite the leather, the tomahawk was military grade, triple-forged steel. He hadn't broken it yet and he doubted he ever would. His eyes darted up, aware of some movement. It was a broken window, and the only thing that was moving was his own reflection. Walking around the sinkhole in the middle of the house, he reached the window, and his reflection stared back at him. He was surprised at what he saw. A boy of fifteen years, with slightly tanned skin, alert brown eyes, straight black hair and lithe stature stared back at him. He mused on this. _I thought I would have looked more starved._ He flexed a couple times, satisfying his teenage ego. Of course, he didn't move his long-sleeved leather jacket. He didn't want anyone to see the bite. It had happened a few weeks ago, and he still hadn't turned. It was up on his shoulder, and it didn't fester like the other wounds he'd seen. It just stayed there, excepting a few blisters, and seemed to be healing itself up nicely. He sighed aloud, but not too loud, as he could hear the harsh click-click of the clickers, and the screams of the lurkers, although they were getting further from him. He relaxed, and slumped against the crumbling wall. _Alright, Delsin Rowe, time to take inventory. Tomahawk, check. Backpack, check. Trench spike,_ which was sheathed on his left, ((A trench spike is a combat knife with ringed grip and spikes jutting from the ringed grip, if you didn't know. ~Zeta)) _Check_. _Two whole packs of beef jerky, one can of soup, a spike bomb, a smoke bomb, and dad's M1911,two magazines, full. Oh, and two 32 ounce canteens, full._ He looked up at the derelict ceiling. _Human contact in three weeks; none. Hope of ever getting a girlfriend, zero._ Being a teenager, he was still concerned about girls in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. _Hope for the future? Nada-_

Shots rang out, and he snapped to attention, slipping his backpack on and jumping lightly through the window, the pistol holstered in the back of his faded jeans. He crept along the rotting balcony, sticking close to the wall. He made the jump to the next building, and when he heard shots from inside, he unholstered his pistol.

"Joel, There's a lot of them!" A high pitched female voice rang out, and Delsin's ears perked up. _She sounds my age._

"I know Ellie, keep fighting. We need that medicine for Tommy." Delsin noted the slower, more focused speech with a hint of southern accent. _Older man… Probably mid-forties,_ he guessed. _Maybe Ellie's his daughter? And who's Tommy?_ He got excited. _Maybe they have a camp!_ At this thought, he almost jumped for joy, but he didn't because that would most likely get him shot or bit. _And just because I'm immune doesn't mean biting doesn't hurt._ He then noticed a brick nearby. _Plan forming…_ He massaged his temples. "Got it!" He grabbed the brick, and chucked it through the window, hitting a Lurker in the face. He jumped through soon after, and tossed his jury-rigged spike bomb, then drew his pistol.

The Lurker screamed, and rushed at him, ten other Infected following.

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell?" Ellie yelled. "Who the hell are you?"

The spike bomb went off, killing four of the Lurkers. "I'm the guy who's saving your ass." _Wow, even I thought that sounded cool._ Measuring his shots, he killed the last three, and managed to get one of the Clickers. Then, he ran forward, and drove the tomahawk deep into the head of one, managed to shoot two others, and swung the trench spike, slitting the throat of the last zombie. He stood there, panting from the effort, and quite proud of himself.

"Okay smartass, drop your weapons."

Delsin turned to find Ellie's gun pointed straight at him. "Are you kidding me? I just saved your life!"

"Yeah, thanks." She lowered the gun for a second, then raised it again. "Now give me your weapons and your bag."

Delsin groaned, but complied. "Fine, take it."

Ellie looked him over. "And the jacket."  
He shook his head. "No way." _If she sees the bite, she'll kill me for sure._

"Excuse me? I'm the one with the gun, now give me the jacket!" Ellie tightened her grip on the pistol.

Delsin saw there was no choice. _Here goes…_ "You have to promise not to shoot me without giving me a chance to explain."

She shrugged. "Deal." Then her eyes narrowed. "Explain what?"

He had already shrugged the left sleeve of his jacket off. "This." Slowly, he removed the right sleeve, and underneath his shirt cuff, a bite mark was clearly visible.

Ellie's eyes widened. "How long have you had it?"

"Two weeks." he saw the disbelief on her face, and moved forward, palms open and outstretched. "Look, I swear I'm not lying."

She tilted her head, to face the open doorway. "Joel, would you come out here?"

"No, no, He'll shoot me!" Delsin said. "You've gotta trust me."  
Joel emerged, with a pill bottle in hand. "What's this about, now-" he stopped when he saw Delsin. "You're bit."

Delsin narrowed his eyes, not to seem intimidating, but trying to remember where he had seen Joel before…

"He says it's been like that for two weeks." Ellie's voice wavered a bit, and Delsin wondered why.

Joel's eyes lit up with an emotion Delsin couldn't decipher. "You mind if I take a look at it," he asked Delsin.

Delsin shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

Joel approached cautiously, and examined the bite, trying to to touch it himself. He stepped back, in awe, and turned to look at Ellie. "He's telling the truth."

Ellie's eyes watered. "Really? Are you sure? Are you abso-fucking-lutely sure?" She looked like she was trying not to cry now.

Joel gave a quiet nod. "I'm sure."

Ellie lowered the gun, slowly. "You...You…" She ran over and hugged Delsin, who was surprised but not put out.

"I'm what?' He asked, slowly.

Ellie released him, slowly, like he might disappear. And then she rolled up her sleeve, and it was all Delsin could do not to gasp. A bite lingered on her skin, blisters and all.

"You're like me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Welcome to the New Dark Ages

"I'm like you?" Delsin rubbed the back of his head. "You mean you're like me."  
"Hah-hah." She rolled her eyes at him, apparently done with the emotional part of her day.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen." She answered. "Why, got a problem?"

"Nope, but you did just prove my point. I'm fifteen. Since I was born first, then technically you're like me." He grinned.

"And who still has the gun?" She waved it at him. "Oh, that's right. Me."

"Now, Ellie, don't be mean," Joel gently reminded her. "Give the boy back his things."

"Aww, come on Joel!"

"No, you have to give it back."  
She stuck out her tongue at Joel, and thrust the bag at Delsin. "Here. You didn't have anything good anyways."

He accepted the bag and strapped his weapons back on. He looked at Ellie, and held out his hand. "My jacket."  
"No way, I'm keeping this. Joel, tell him."  
Joel just stared at Ellie.

"Fine, take your damn jacket." She tossed it at him, and he caught it with one hand. She flipped him the bird, and looked ready to storm off. Delsin thought about it. _Comfy jacket or possible friendship? _"Here, you can have it." He held it out, the soft leather bunched up in his hand.

Her eyes grew. "Really?"

"Now hold on a minute. Son, are you sure you want to do this?" Joel had glimmer of amusement in his eye. "You won't get it back." _And you can't buy Ellie with gifts,_ he added in his head.

Delsin shrugged. "It's fine, take it."  
"Awesome!" Ellie snatched it, and pulled off her old pink hoodie, tossing it. "Sweet, it even has a hood!" she flipped the grey cloth hood over her head, and examined her new appearance in a window. "Hey, I look badass! It fits like a glove, too! Thanks, uh…"  
Delsin realized there hadn't been time for introductions. "I'm Delsin," he said quickly, extending a fist.

She pounded it. "Thanks, Delsin."

he nodded, and pulled a different leather jacket from his bag. This one was black, and he slipped it on quickly, pulling a beanie onto his head to replace the hood.

"You had another jacket?" Joel asked, trying not to laugh.

Delsin shrugged. "This one was my dad's. Now it's mine." He offered no further comment, and Joel didn't press him. But something jogged his memory. "What was your dad's name, Delsin?"

"Jace Rowe."  
Joel recognized him instantly. "You're Jace's kid? I can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier. I went to high school with your dad."  
Delsin gave him a closer look. "Joel… Fix-it Joel?"

Joel chuckled. "It's been a long while since I heard that."

"No way. My dad used to tell stories about you all the time!"  
"Well, no need to repeat them now." Joel said, a bit hurriedly. Some of the things he'd gotten into… Ellie didn't need to hear.

"So... you two know each other?" Ellie pointed at both of them, and looked back and forth.

"Not directly… But by proxy, yeah," Joel admitted.

"Wait…" Delsin shook his finger, trying to grasp something. "Old man...Girl…" His face lit up. "You're the two who were wrecking the Bandit's whole game! Killing their men, everything!" He shook Joel's hand. "Wow, you guys are famous!"

Joel seemed a little overwhelmed by his sudden revelation of fame. "Famous?"

Ellie, on the other hand, ate it up. "Oh yeah, we should be!"

"Yeah! You guys are the "Avenging tourists", the "Deadly double", the "phantom duo", the "Grey ghost" and the "Demon in pink"!"

"Grey ghost?" Joel asked, a little embarrassed. "My hair is not that grey."

"Come on, Joel, You've got a mop of gray hair, admit it." Ellie reached up and tousled his hair. "And I'm definitely a demon." She made faces in the window. "I like it."

"Yeah, you guys are living legend. Say, you wouldn't have a place to stay, would you?" Delsin rubbed his neck. "I'm sorta homeless at the moment."  
"Dude, you can totally come back with us!"

"Ellie…" But Joel knew the issue was pretty much decided. And besides, he wasn't going to leave the kid to fend for himself. _Fix-It Joel… heh._

When Delsin saw their car, his eyes almost bugged out of his head. "No way." It was just a simple four-door sedan, but he couldn't believe his eyes. "You have a car?!" He made sure not to shout too loud, just in case there were still infected lurking.

Ellie grinned, "I know, sweet, right?!" She tugged on the door handle impatiently. "Come on Joel, do the thing!"

Joel sighed, and pressed the button on the remote. All the locks clunked open right as Ellie yanked on the handle, and she went flying backwards, landing on top of Delsin, who was eagerly looking in the window to see the locks open. The two rolled along the cement, coming to an abrupt stop.

"Hey!" Delsin sat up, and rubbed his nose. "Jeez, I'm bleeding."

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry!" Ellie sat up, and pulled out a rag, and pressed it to his nose before Delsin could react.

He sat there, embarrassed, not quite willing to say anything. _Hey, she's practically sitting on your lap,_ went a little voice in the back of his head. _Enjoy it._

Joel allowed himself a little smile. "Ellie, don't you think he can take care of his own nosebleed?"

"Oh, uh, right. Here, hold the rag," She said, standing up and offering Delsin a hand.

He took it, gratefully. "Thag you bery much." He pressed the rag to his nose, and dropping his bag in the trunk, slid into the backseat. "Do you have an iPod port?"

"Yeah, why?" Ellie asked, a little curt. She really did feel bad about his nose, even if it was just a nosebleed.

Delsin reached in his pocket, and pulled out a silver iPod classic. "Because I have this." He held it up so it caught the light.

Joel turned around, and faced Delsin. "Now where on earth did you find that?"

Delsin shrugged. "I can't divulge all my secrets."  
"Fair enough. But would you do me a favor, and plug it in?" Joel rolled up the windows.

Delsin attached a cable, connecting the iPod and the car's stereo systems. "Okay… I think that's it." Suddenly, the sound of Three Days Grace blared from the speakers, making everyone jump. Joel, who had actually grown up with radio, relaxed into the car seat, and slapped the steering wheel to the beat. _The good life, huh? Isn't that what we all want?_

"Okay, that's awesome. You're officially my second favorite person." Ellie told Delsin.

"Who's first?"

Ellie looked out the window, trying not to get emotional. "Eh, doesn't matter. What does matter is you beat out Joel for second place."  
"Hey! I was only number two?" Joel assumed an offended air. "And who got you out of the city?"

"You."

"Who has saved your life more times than he can count?"

Ellie shrunk into the seat a little. "You."

"And who gave you the opportunity to pet the giraffe?"

Ellie's face brightened. "Oh yeah, now that was awesome. Still, you didn't give me a leather jacket or bring a magical music player," she teased.

"It's not magic. It's a system of wires, programming and binary code being translated-"

He had lost Ellie at programming, and Delsin at binary. "Oh, never mind. It's just not magic." The song ended, and Mississippi Queen started. Joel smiled, and began to hum the melody. "Now this is my kind of music."

Ellie made a face, and leaned back to Delsin, whispering; "Change it quick, before he starts talking about the old days."

"You know, back in the old days,"

Ellie groaned. "Not again."  
"Hey, you could do well if you showed respect to your elders." Joel lectured. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah." He began telling them about planes, which were "Giant metal birds, except they didn't flap their wings. The had engines on the side, and…" Joel droned on until the song ended, and Ellie gave a sigh of relief when he ended, blowing the the few strands of hair hanging in her face away.

The song switched again, and this time a song like nothing Ellie or Delsin had ever heard. An announcer promised "one hour" of the "best Hardwell mixes of 2013", and he wished everyone a "merry Christmas, and a very lucky 2014" before starting the mix.

"Oh, it's that thing you kids call dubstep." Joel said. "Never really liked it."

"That's just because you're old." Ellie's head bobbed up and down to the beat.

"Hey Joel, didn't the outbreak start in 2014?" Delsin asked him, curious.

"Um, let me see... why yes, yes it did."

Delsin snorted. "So much for lucky."

Joel flashed back. _Running, with his daughter in his arms… Tommy, shooting the infected...The soldier, the gunshot…._ He snapped to attention. He was driving, after all. "Well, no one _knew_ it would happen." His voice didn't waver, but it held a hint of sadness. "No one knew."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

You're safe here((As safe as you can be with 95% of the earth's population zombified))

They pulled up to the huge gate in front of the village. "Friend or foe?"

"Friend," Joel yelled back. "How's the wife, John?"  
"She's fine, just tired. You know the twins are getting to be a handful." The watchman signaled to someone, and the gate rolled opened, letting them through.

Delsin glanced around in awe. "You have running water and electricity?"

"And heat," Ellie chimed proudly. "You've gotta see my room; it's totally bitchin'."  
"Language."  
"You didn't care when we were out there!" Ellie pointed out.

"Yeah, but now we're in civilization. Try to be civilized. You do know what that means, don't you?"

Ellie slumped in her seat. "Yeah, I know. Even if it's no fun." She crossed her arms over her chest, and grumpily looked out the window. They pulled up to a two-story house, with people waiting on the steps. "Hey, Joel!" A blonde man got up to meet him. Joel hugged him, smiling. "Hey Tommy, do you remember Jace Rowe?"

"How could I forget? I went to highschool and college with him."

"Well this," Joel gestured at Delsin, "Is his son. Remember when I was _Fix-it_ Joel?"

"Oh god." Tommy stooped to Delsin's height. "In the name of everything sweet and good on this fair earth, please tell me your father did _not_ pass on those stories."

Delsin grinned mischievously. "Which ones? The one with Janice, or Trish, or ooh, what about when you guys went to that party-"

"Not the party!" Joel and Tommy yelled at the same time. They shared a look. Tommy spoke first. "I cannot believe your father told you that."

"He said if I ever met you, I could blackmail you in case of emergency."

Ellie burst out laughing. "Must've been some kind of party, huh Joel?"

"You, young lady, do not need to know about it. Ever. And that's final." He gave Delsin a stern glare. "And you are not to tell her."

Delsin shrugged innocently. "What?" The car was still blasting music, and Delsin started to dance.

"I said you are not to tell her about the party."

"What?" Ellie cupped a hand to her ear. "I can't hear you, the music is too loud!" She started dancing with Delsin, and Maria laughed. "Well you can't stop them. Besides, I am very interested to hear what exactly happened at this party."

Delsin started doing the robot, and Ellie cracked up.

Joel smiled. "Oh, alright."

Ellie was walking like an egyptian, and Delsin was bent over laughing.

"Now that was before her time," Joel said.

"That make me feel young." Tommy said. "That, and your grey hair."

"My hair is not that grey."

"I hate to tell you, brother, but it is." Tommy clapped Joel on the shoulder. The next song was a remix of a very old song, and Tommy looked at Joel again. "I think they're playing your song."  
Joel crossed his arms. "I think not."

"Come on, what's the point of staying alive if you don't have a little fun?" Tommy began to bob his head.

Joel relented, "Oh, alright. But only if you do it with me. I couldn't do it without my partner in crime."

Tommy waved his hands. "Oh no, you are not getting me into that."

"Come on, you know we can't let these young people show us up."

Tommy hesitated. "Well…"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, Stayin alive." Joel chanted.

Tommy gave up. "Okay, let's do it. Just once." They began a ridiculous dual disco routine, and Delsin fell to his knees, gasping for breath. "Stop, Stop! It's too-too funny!"

Ellie was staring at Joel, whether it was in horror or in awe he couldn't tell.

"I think I'm getting too old to be "inner city shaking" Joel."

"Oh no, we started now, you've gotta commit." Joel said, laughing. "Bring it home."  
They finished, and Delsin finally took a gasping breath, and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You guys are too much!"

Ellie had no words for the horror she was experiencing. "I cannot believe you! You're disowned, Joel. Delsin, come up and see my room." She grabbed him and dragged him into the house, and up the stairs. "Here it is." She opened the door. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

"It's not as pink as I thought it would be." The room itself was painted a dark blue, and it did have some pink stuff, but not an excess.

"What, because I'm a girl everything has to be automatically pink?"

"No, just, you know, "demon in pink."

"Oh. Sorry to disappoint, but this demon is going to wear a lot more black from now on," she said, admiring herself in a mirror. "Yeah, I'm loving the leather. Thanks."

Delsin shrugged. "Hey no problem. I had two, anyway." He smiled, and reclined on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "It's been a while since I've been in a house with other people who weren't trying to kill me."  
"How long?"

"A few years."

"No shit," she gasped. "You lived that long on your own?"

"Yeah, go me, right? I don't know how I managed it."

"Was it tough? I mean, the first time out of the city, I had Joel with me…" Ellie got quiet. _I can't believe he survived that long._

Delsin nodded. "It was unbelievably hard. I had to do some things." He offered no comment, staring at the wall instead of looking at Ellie. An awkward silence filled the room, and Ellie didn't know what to say. "That's fucked up."

"Yeah."

"Hey, wanna come see your room?"

"My...room?" Delsin's face grew lighter.

Ellie grinned, trying to put the awkward silence behind them. "Yeah, you're staying with us, right?"

"Um…" Delsin had entertained the thought, but not really considered. "I guess I might."

"Well, come on!" She tugged him by his arm, and into the guest room, _Which wouldn't be a guest room anymore, if He stays._ "It's this one. Sorry if it's not as cool as mine." It was bigger than hers, but just had a bed and a dresser, not much else.

_If I do stay, I'll see If I can get some spray paint._ Delsin loved to tag walls, and he figured it was just what this room needed. _Time for the return of RVN._ It was his tagging signature, raven.

"So, what do you think?" Ellie sounded a little eager-to-please, and Delsin wondered what she was trying to make up for. "I'll take it. Where do I sign?" He joked.

"No need for a contract." Joel stood in the doorway, and he offered Delsin the iPod back.

He took it, and smiled. "done getting down with your bad self?"

"For a while, I hope."

Ellie sighed with relief. "Thank god. Maybe I won't have to disown you after all."

Joel raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that mean you'd be on your own?"

"Nope, I got Delsin!" She threw an arm around his neck. "Him and the horses."  
"So you're partners in crime? Well, Delsin, I can take you furniture shopping."

"Shopping?"

"He means looting the empty houses for cool shit."

"Ellie, language."

"Aw, fuck you." She flopped on the bed.

"Right. Anyway, Delsin, do you want to go?"

"Sure, let's go."

Joel nodded, and led him to a house next door. "Take anything."

Delsin wandered the house, looking around for the promised "cool shit". "This desk, I guess. And the couch. Can I take these speakers?"

Joel just nodded. "Yep."

"Sweet." Delsin began rummaging through drawer. "And I can just take anything I find?"

"Yeah, it's yours."

"Awesome." Delsin walked around, and head a floorboard squeak. He pressed on it, and it squeaked more. He lifted up the rug, and and put his ear to the floor.

"Probably just a loose floorboard, son." Joel commented.

"I don't think so…" Delsin hacked at the floor with his tomahawk. "I knew it!" A small package lay beneath the house, and Delsin tore it open. "It's a photo… of somewhere else?"

Joel toot a look at it. "Hey, isn't that the closet upstairs?"

Delsin took off like a shot, sprinting up the stairs. Joel chuckled and began to carry out the furniture.

"I found another picture!" Delsin dashed past Joel, and pulled open a drawer in the kitchen, which had another picture. He followed it to another couch, which he flipped over, and tore open, digging through the fluff. "No way." He gingerly removed a hunting rifle, scope included, from the couch. It had woodland camo, and the scope had up to 6x zoom. "This is sick!" He aimed down the scope. "How'd they hide this?" He looked in the couch for more goodies, and found nothing, but that was okay. _I've got my own rifle! Sweet._

Joel shook his head. "All that trouble for one rifle? I wonder why."

"Who cares? It's mine now!" He pulled back the bolt, and an empty shell flew out.

"Careful now, it might still be loaded."

Delsin pulled the bolt back a few more times. "Nope, no bullets. But it looks like it takes the same ammo as yours. Awesome." He slung it on his back, and proudly strutted out of the house. "Hey Ellie, Look at what I found!"

"I guess I'll just move the furniture by myself then," Joel said, beginning the process.

A few hours later, Joel had moved all of Delsin's furniture into his room, and he was thankful that the boy had picked mostly light things. _Except for that couch._

Delsin was availing himself of the running water, and taking a shower, humming a tune from the iPod. _Shampoo? Where do they get all this? God, I hope I never have to leave._ He finished the shower, which he was told wasn't supposed to be longer then ten minutes. He sighed, got out, and realized he had no towel. _Hmmm. I could Use Joel's, but… Nah._ The thought of using Ellie's towel never crossed his mind. He instead decided to bolt out of the shower, and hurriedly sift through the hallway closet, looking for a towel. He grabbed a blue towel, and rushed back into the bathroom, slamming the door. _At least no one saw me._ He began drying off, berating himself that he had forgotten a towel.

Ellie rushed past the bathroom into her room. _I never wanted to see that much of Delsin. Eww._

About thirty minutes later, someone knocked on his door. "Hey, Delsin. You in there?" It was Joel.

Delsin got up, and opened the door. "What's up?"

Joel handed him a box of ammo. "You were right. You're the proud owner of a modified winchester model 70. Have some ammo on the house."

Delsin's eyes bugged out of his head. "AWESOME!"

"Anyway, the real reason I'm here is to see if you'd want to come to the walls, and maybe learn how things work around here."

Delsin nodded eagerly, "Let me get my stuff." He pulled his pack on, strapped the rifle to it, and grabbed his other weapons. "Okay, let's go."

"Okay, Rambo." Joel grabbed his pack too, and began sauntering off at a leisurely pace. "The Walls stretch around the whole town, but I'm sure you can see that. We get all our power from a hydroelectric dam, which is powered by the river over there." He pointed to the river. "Coincidentally, we get out water from there too. And before you ask, it passes through another dam and purifier over there, so the only way it could be poisoned is if it happened from the inside." He waved at the guard, who opened the door to the dam for them. "Who's the new kid?"

"I'm Delsin, nice to meet ya." He put out a hand.

The guard shook it. "Victor Smith. You gonna be staying?"

"I hope so." They went inside the dam, where the huge turbines were spinning rapidly, powering the neighborhood. Joel led him up a flight of stairs. "And here's the wall. We have guards everywhere, just in case."

Delsin nodded appreciatively. _I don't mind being prepared for "just in case". _

"And that's about it-"

A man came up, and tapped Joel on the shoulder. "We've spotted bandits."

Joel's face darkened. "Delsin, go back down."

"Too late. They're 60 yards and closing fast. Get down, don't go down."

Delsin had already laid down, and was loading his rifle. It came with a bipod, and he had propped it up, adjusting the sights. "I see them. Two trucks, and one sedan. We've got some sort of mounted guns on the trucks."

The man spoke into the radio, relaying the information. "Okay, dig in for battle."

"Whoa now, I don't think you should-"

"Joel, let him do his thing." The man was heading back down. "We'll need him."

Joel's radio squawked. "Approaching 40 yards… fire on my mark."

A few seconds were stretched into an eternity, grim looks on the faces of the men and women who were ready to fight and die for their home.

"Fire!"

Delsin cracked a shot off at the driver, just as everyone else attempted the same thing, for his car and others. The first truck careened and smashed into a tree, bursting into flames. The other truck began raking the wall with machine-gun fire.

"Down, Down!" chirped the radio. Of course, this was superfluous, as everyone had dropped to the ground as soon as they had seen the first yellow-orange spurts of flame leave the barrel.

Delsin sighted in again, and let off a shot, missing the gunner, but causing him to duck, right as the truck hit a bump. He was ejected from the back, rolled in a pile of limbs right into the river, and flowed downstream with the current. Delsin pulled the bolt back, and the second shell popped out. _Four more shots before I have to reload._ He squeezed off a third shot, and popped the tire on the sedan, which unfortunately made a safe pullover. He pulled the bolt back, and let his next round find it's way inside a bandit's head, causing it to explode in a red mist. _Three more._ His fifth shot went wild, thumping harmlessly into the dirt. _Damn._ He angrily snapped the bolt back, and made sure his next shot hit something. It punctured the gas tank of the truck, but didn't blow it up. "Damn!" He began loading rounds as fast as he could, and barely rolled out of the way when a bullet whizzed by his head. He pushed the trigger, and he saw his round connect with the bandit's chest, knocking him backwards, bullets flying everywhere as his hand contracted on the trigger.

"Three left, Three left!" Delsin ignored the radio, and looked down his scope, at one bandit, who got shot, and as he swiveled to the next one, he was too late again.

The last bandit hefted something onto his shoulder.

"He's got an RPG!" Joel yelled, and he shouldered his assault rifle, flipped it to three round burst, and opened fire, pulling the trigger again and again, until the body was nothing but a mutilated corpse., unfortunately, this did nothing to stop the rocket from careening towards him. Joel was vaguely aware of ducking, and the rocket whizzed over his head, harmlessly sailing into the sky.

"Shouldn't we stop it?" Delsin had shouldered his rifle.

"No! The explosion will draw more attention than the rocket." Joel placed his hand on Delsin's rifle, and lowered it. "Relax, Delsin. You did alright."

Delsin nodded, and swung the rifle across his back. "Alright, alright." His hands were shaking, but it was from adrenaline, not fear or sickness. "Okay, can we go back?"

"Sure."

Delsin headed down the stairs with Joel, receiving thank you's and words of encouragement from the various people who were around. He nodded politely, and made his way out.

"Ugh, I always miss the fun stuff!" Ellie stomped and crossed her arms. "I hate when stuff like this happens and I can't get in on the action!"

"Relax, Ellie. You didn't miss anything much."  
"Nothing much? It was a fucking bandit attack, Joel!" She groaned again. "This is bullshit."

Delsin raised his hands. "Ellie, chill."

"I will not _chill_!" She swung a punch at Joel, going wild. "You suck! And you!" She pointed an accusing finger at Delsin. "You got to fight, and you _just got here!_ How is that fair?" She drew back her flist and slammed Delsin in the face, and he made no move to protect himself, just went down hard. _I hope she didn't break my nose._

Joel grabbed Ellie. "You are way out of line! You cannot just fucking lash out when you don't get your way, do you hear me?! Hitting him like that was unacceptable, apologize now!"

She realized what she'd done, and was instantly sorry. "Oh shit. Delsin?"

He sat up, rubbing his nose. "Hey, don't worry, it's not broke." He fished in his pocket, and pulled out a familiar looking rag, and bunched it up against his nose, smiling. "I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry, I just…" She turned and sprinted away, ignoring Joel calling her.

Delsin got up, shakily. "I'm fine, Joel, really. She packs one hell of a punch, though."

"She's stronger than she looks." Joel admitted.

"Yeah. Should we go looking for her?"

"No, she'll turn up. We just need to back off for awhile." Joel lent Delsin an arm. "Come on, champ, let's get you home."

Delsin chuckled. "Turn up."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sorry… I guess.

Delsin was chilling in his room, headphones ((he'd bartered for them at a store. ~Zeta)) on, listening to "The soundtrack" of his "nightlife". Someone knocked on his door, and he opened it.

Ellie looked at the floor, standing there awkwardly. "Um. Hi."  
"Hi." Delsin really didn't know what to say.

"Sorry… you know, for punching you in the face, and almost breaking your nose."

Delsin smiled. "Well, it's alright, no permanent harm done."

"How can you say that?" She was still looking at the ground. "How can be you cool with that?" Her hands clenched into fists. "Why do you just forgive me so easily?"

"Um, because it was nothing serious?" Delsin leaned on the doorframe. "Okay, look, I accept. It's nothing, really."

"Punch me."

"What?" Delsin was confused now.

"Punch me. I punched you, so it's only fair you punch back."

"Um… I don't really want to."  
"Come on, hit me." Ellie said.

Delsin rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not gonna hit you. However, I will settle for an "I'm sorry" hug."

Ellie looked up. "You sure?"

"Yes. I won't hit you."

She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight. Delsin hugged back, then let her go. "Now, I'm gonna punch you in the face" He grinned, and pulled his fist back.

"No way, you got your hug!" She raised her hands in defense, smiling.

"Nope. C'mere! He swung, playfully, and she ducked. "Hey, knock it of!" Laughing, she ran downstairs, and Delsin chased after her. They ran around the living room, laughing, and jumping over couches and tables. Delsin tackled her, and began throwing weak punches. "Fear me!"

Ellie couldn't stop laughing, tears of mirth sprung to her eyes as she covered her mouth. "Stop, stop!" She punched him futilely, then they wrestled on the ground for a bit, and Ellie pinned Delsin, laughing. "That was fun. But I'm definetly the winner." She drove her fist into his gut, and he doubled over, unable to speak. Ellie laughed and got up, choosing to sit on the couch. "And I'd win in a real fight, too."

"In your dreams." Delsin sat next to her, hanging over the couch arm. "You know I'd beat you, I let you win this time."

"No, I punched you in the gut, and I would have knocked you out in a real fight."

"Pfft, sure. That's what they all say."

"Who's "they"?"  
"The people who try to beat me in fights." Delsin slid off the couch, laughing on the floor, too lazy to get back up.

Ellie stuck her tongue out at him.

Delsin climbed back onto the couch, and pushed her. "Put that away before I bite it off."

Ellie's face turned red, and she got up, disguising her embarrassment with nonchalance. "As if you could. Well, I'm going upstairs, so have fun being a loner." She headed up the stairs.

"I can't be alone, we live in the same house!" He called after her. _Oh, well._ He put his earbuds in, laid down on the couch and closed his eyes, falling asleep to the pounding guitar of Rise Against's "Savior".

Joel came home in the early morning, from wherever he had disappeared to, and as he opened the door he noticed Delsin sleeping on the couch. "What, did Ellie kick you out?"

Delsin let out a gentle snore, and then Joel noticed the earbuds. He walked over, and shook Delsin. "So Ellie kicked you out."

"Wha?" Delsin opened his eyes blearily. The harsh, fast and defiant words of Eminem contrasted with Joel's slow and measure speech, and for a second he wondered what was going on. He remembered, and pulled out a solitary earbud. "Sorry, say again?"

"You are getting way too attached to that thing."  
"No, you said something else."

"Oh, Ellie kicked you out?"

"Huh? Why'd you think that?" He stretched, his limbs shaking from the effort, ran a quick hand through his hair, and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Well you are sleeping on the couch."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Delsin obviously had no concept of being in the doghouse, so Joel just gave a soft chuckle. "Never mind. oh, you'll need this." He handed Delsin a walkie-talkie. "Most everyone has one, so they can radio in, if something happens."

"Most everyone?"

"We usually don't give them to little kids. But other than that, you'll see people with them. Good shooting today."

"Well, almost everyone was aiming for the same targets; someone had to hit it and I guess it was me."

Joel cracked a grin. "That's very humble of you. But why are you sleeping on the couch?"

"Oh, that? I just fell asleep I guess." He left out the play-fighting and wrestling with Ellie. _They might not be blood, but they've got a tight bond. I don't think I should tell him we were rolling around on the floor together._ Withholding that bit of information, he thanked Joel for the radio. "But where have you been?"

"War council. Boring stuff like that." Joel waved a calloused hand. "Nothing you'd be interested in."

Delsin shook his head. "Tell me, are we going after the bandits?"

"No, too risky, unless we identify their camp-" Joel cut himself off.

"Whoa, they have a camp? These guys are pretty serious." Delsin scratched his head. "Why don't you just invade? No, wait. That's giving them the advantage. We're clearly safer behind the walls, which are easily defensible." He chewed on his lip, and then his eyes brightened. "Night raid."

"We've already thought of that, actually. Again, until we know where they hang their coats, we can't do that."

Delsin shrugged. "Well good luck. Oh, call me down when breakfast is ready." he headed upstairs as well.

Joel watched him go with a look of disbelief. "Breakfast? Who says I cook?" He moved to the kitchen, still grumbling as he pulled out ingredients.

Delsin headed upstairs. _Man, I gotta hit the bathroom._ He opened the door, and immediately backed out and shut it. Mortified, he hurried to his room and slammed the door. _Jesus, hasn't she ever heard of locking it?_

Ellie stood on the bathmat, her hand halfway to her towel , and looked at the door with wide, angry eyes. "JESUS, HAVEN'T YOU HEARD OF KNOCKING?!" She dried off, and got dressed.

Delsin, in the meanwhile, had locked _his_ door and was furiously cleaning, oiling, and polishing the various parts of his rifle. _Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it…_ So went his line of thought until he was rudely interrupted by Ellie slamming her fist on his door. "The hell did you think you were doing?!" She pounded on the door some more. "Open up!" She tried the handle. "Oh, so now _you_ lock _your_ door. Is supposed to be some kind of a hint?" She jiggled the doorknob. "Open it!" She had to admit, _It was partially my fault. I'm not used to locking it, since it's only been Joel and I living in here, and he has a bathroom downstairs._ She made a face. _He still should have knocked. Fucking idiot._

Delsin leaned forward, and opened the door right as Ellie began to pound on it again, resulting in him getting punched in the face and dropping the rifle. ((Poor guy just can't catch a break. ~Zeta))

"What the hell!" He rubbed his nose. "THAT'S THE THIRD TIME TODAY!"

"MAYBE IF YOU HAD KNOCKED-"  
"EXCUSE ME FOR NOT BEING UP ON MY ETIQUETTE! I'VE BEEN ON MY OWN FOR TWO YEARS, YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO BE PERFECT!" His face was turning red, flushed with anger.

"AND WHY NOT?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE ME!" She put the "save me" in air quotes, and both briefly flashed back to when they had first met, which was only a yesterday.

"I WAS TRYING TO SOUND COOL!"

"IT TOTALLY WORKED! I WAS ACTUALLY A LITTLE IMPRESSED!" As she said this, her voice dripped sarcasm.

"WELL, GEE, THANKS! NOT EVERYONE CAN BE AS PERFECT AS YOU!"

"WHO SAYS I'M PERFECT?!"

"YOU OBVIOUSLY THINK YOU ARE! NOW GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

"FUCK YOU, I WAS LEAVING ANYWAYS!" She slammed the door on the way out, furious.

As Joel cracked eggs into a bowl to scramble, he sighed. "This is going to be interesting." The shouting continued, Ellis standing outside Delsin's door, demanding that he open it again so she could "Hit him properly" and telling him he should "Take it like a man". Delsin shouted back, swearing at Ellie and telling her to go do some anatomically improbable things. Joel tossed bacon onto a heated range, trying to ignore them. The stove was electric, it had to be, in order to work. _Good old bacon. Most preserved and delicious meat there is._ He hummed to himself as he cooked. Taking Ellie across america had put him in the role of father figure, and that wasn't something he minded. Unfortunately, he also had to learn to cook something edible. He poured a can of chili into a pot, and poured the eggs onto another pan, and soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of cooking food. The timer dinged, and Joel pulled hot toast out of the toaster at the same time he poured water into a coffee filter. _I'll need it to get through today. _He was supposed to go on a scouting mission, and it didn't help that he had been up all night planning it. _Can't have everything, I guess._ pulling out the filter and dumping it in the trash, he headed upstairs, where Delsin and Ellie were shouting face to face again. "Do you two think you can truce long enough to come and eat?"

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" They whirled back to each other, and started shouting once again. Joel rolled his eyes, and grabbed each of them by the collar. "You're eating this breakfast, now." He ignored all arguments, and sat them on opposite sides of the table. He dished up bacon, scrambled eggs with chili, and golden-brown toast. "Eat this, enjoy it, and give me five minutes of silence. Then you can yell at each other all you want."

Delsin complied, and began shoveling food into his mouth, angrily glaring at Ellie.

She pushed her food around with her fork, and glared right back. "Pig."

"Slut."

"Idiot."

"Bitch."

" Fucking pervert."

"Butch-"

"Enough," Joel said, tired out. _And it's only 6:30._ "Look, I'm going to be away for a couple of days. Can you try not to murder each other while I'm gone?"

"No promises," they said at the same time, then went back to glaring at each other.

"I'll take that as a maybe. Look, you can go to Tommy's house for dinner, or cook it yourself. No parties while I'm away, don't do anything stupid, stuff like that."

"Parties? There's like three other teens, and all the booze is under lock and key."

"That's right." Joel got up, and grabbed his pack and weapons. "Well, good luck." It was very unclear whether he was talking to Ellie or Delsin.  
They glared at each other, each wanting to respect Joel but still mad.

Delsin finished, and violently knocked the chair back, heading to the sink to wash his plate. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"Eventually."  
"Just leave the plate and I'll wash it."

"Screw you, I can do my own dishes."  
"Just trying to help."

"Stop trying."

Delsin placed his dishes in the dish rack, and headed upstairs, to service his rifle (again) and to see if he could memorize a map of the area. Once in his room, he put his headphones on, not wanting to be disturbed. _Handy that I have headphones and earbuds._ He began studying the terrain, and memorizing landmarks.

Ellie, the meanwhile, had finished eating, and washed her dishes, setting hers on the opposite side if the rack from Delsin's. She wasn't so angry anymore, realizing that it was an honest mistake, but she still wanted to get back at him. So she filled a bucket with water, and snuck up to his room. To her delight, she found he hadn't locked his door. Without stopping to think of the consequences ((typical teenager)) she dumped the bucket of ice-cold water all over him. "Surprise!"

"Are you KIDDING ME?!" He jumped up, and hurriedly pulled the iPod out of his pocket. "You're kidding me." It had actually died from low battery, but he thought it shorted out. He gingerly placed it on the bed, and removed his headphones.

Ellie realized what she had done. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry-"

"Get out." he pointed towards his door.

"Look, I didn't know."

"I don't care. Get out." She did, and he gingerly closed his door. He shook the iPod. "come on." He whacked the side, and tried plugging it in. Nothing happened, but that was because this was a classic, and wouldn't turn on till the battery was above ten percent. Not that Delsin knew that, he still thought it was broken. He sighed. _It was great while I had it._ He laid on his bed for a bit, then decided to see how Ellie was doing. _The funny part is, I'm not even mad. It's just stuff, and stuff can be replaced. Well, maybe not this stuff. But, still._ He knocked on Ellie's door. "Hey, Ellie, you there?"

"Go away." Her voice sounded hurt.

_Great, now she's upset._ "Come on, open up. Look, you don't need to be upset, okay? It's just stuff."  
"Yeah, cool stuff that can't be replaced."

Delsin was silent. "Well, that doesn't matter to me." He tried the doorknob, and to his surprise, it opened. Ellie looked at him, her eyes were red. "Go away."

"You can hit me if it makes you feel better."

She chuckled a bit, and wiped her eyes. "You're fucking crazy."

"I've been told it's one of my redeeming traits."

"What's one of your faults?" She asked.

Delsin sat down at the foot of her bed. "I'm not that great with people. Usually they leave or I kill them. Like that crazy guy, Bill."

"Wait." She slid off the bed, and sat next to him. "Older guy, greasy hair, balding?"

"That could be a lot of people." Delsin said, a smile forming on his face

"Rigs explosive traps, and is super paranoid?" she persisted, describing him further.

"That's the one."

"You met him?!" Ellie made a face. "He was a jerk."

"You think? He wanted to use me as zombie bait." Delsin rubbed his wrists. "he had me handcuffed, too. But he let me go after I saved his life. I choked a zombie with the chain between the cuffs," he said, answering the question he knew she would ask.

"Wow. That's pretty badass." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for not being mad. I would be pissed if you did that to something of mine."

"I know. I was there this morning, remember?"

She punched his shoulder, lightly. "You should have knocked."

"Yeah," he admitted.

"But I shoulda locked the door. So we're both to blame."

"Yep." They sat there in silence, and Ellie became more relaxed around Delsin, shifting so she laid with her back against his shoulder. "Y'know, there's other teens. Like, three."

"Is it party time?"

She grinned. "Well, we've got tons of abandoned houses."

"And you seem to know where they keep the booze."  
"Yeah, but it's locked up."

Delsin reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a pencil bag. "I've got these." He unzipped it, and inside was a kit of lockpick tools, some professional, some very homemade. "Do they have any bolt locks?"

" Not at the store, but that would be too obvious… You can go for the warehouse. There should be a route in without bolt locks…" She thought about it, then grabbed a piece of paper from her desk. "Here, let me draw you a map."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Fire is awesome

Delsin snuck past a guard, who honestly had more important things on his mind. Like sleep. Delsin normally would have been bothered by the complacency, but this warehouse was not only inside the walls, but it was far enough from them that enemies reaching it would be unlikely. Armed with his knife, tomahawk, a rubber wolf mask, lockpicks and the hand-drawn map Ellie gave him, he reached the first door and quietly fiddled with the lock till it clicked open. _Easy enough._ He moved inside, and bam! It was the warehouse. He quickly moved down the rows of stored items, and reached the section he was looking for. he mixed and matched, taking a bottle here, a bottle there. he stuffed them in between shirts, so they wouldn't clink. He stealthed out past the guard, after locking the door behind him. He almost laughed, but held off until he was a safe distance away. He met up with Ellie and the others at one of the many abandoned houses.

"So you're Delsin?" A dark kid with an Australian accent fist-bumped Deslin. "I'm Lucas. And before you ask, yes, Black people do live in Australia. My parents and I lucked out, getting here before the infection." He shoved his hands back in his hoodie. His hair was immaculately cropped short, and his pockets were filled with something.

Delsin laughed. "I wasn't gonna ask, mate."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "And we don't say mate."

"You say mate all the time." Another girl emerged from the shadows. "I'm Lupe." she smiled alluringly at Delsin, and her yellow eyes seemed to glow. Inky-black hair was cropped short at her shoulders, and she wore a leather jacket, faded t-shirt, and leather pants.

"Leather fetish much?"

"Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Where's Edward and Melissa?" Ellie interrupted, feeling slightly… _Jealous? No, no._ She dismissed the thought with a shake of her head. She just didn't like the way Lupe looked at Delsin, that's all. _she's looking at him like he's bacon or a steak or something._

"Edward is sick and Melissa is grounded." Lupe answered, examining her nails.

"So, just us?" Delsin shrugged. "I'm cool with that." He nodded towards the house. "So we going in?"

Lucas snorted. "Not likely. Ellie, you didn't tell him about the tunnels?"

"Shhh! I didn't know if he could pull it off. Why trust him with information if he was going to get caught?"

"Need to know basis? I get it, but I'd appreciate you keeping me in the loop." Delsin shifted his stance, slightly annoyed.

"Just follow us, mate."

Lupe rolled her eyes. "You just said mate."

"No I didn't." Lucas set off at a brisk pace, and Delsin had no choice but to follow. The led him to a different house, and then down to the basement. "Here, check it." Lucas pushed aside a box, and there was a huge tunnel. "Smugglers used to make runs down here." They all filed in, and Lucas dragged the box back into place. "Lights." Everyone clicked on their various forms of light.

_Man this is so sweet! _Delsin was freaking in. _As far as smuggler tunnels go, these are legit._ He'd been in quite a few tunnels himself, over the years. Lucas led them out into a house, on the other side of the mountain. "Here we are."

Delsin walked around, checking the house out."This house is in pretty good condition, you know, for the outside."

"Yeah, I don't know why." Lucan led them to the top floor. "Okay, what'd you get?"

"Three bottles of Vodka, one Champagne and four Jack Daniels."

Lupe's eyes widened. "That's a lot of fire."

Delsin grinned. "Yep." He opened a Vodka bottle, and stuffed a rag into the top. "Who wants to throw the first one?"

Ellie snatched it from him. "Dibs!" She pulled out a lighter, and lit the end of the rag. "I'm calling the red car." There was an old, burned out car, that obviously been firebombed multiple aimed, and chucked it. The lone light flew through the night, and smashed into the car, trails of flame spreading everywhere. "now that was awesome."

Lupe grabbed a bottle. "Blue car." She stuffed a rag in it, lit it, and threw it. It hit dead center, cloaking the car in liquid flame.

"Dibs on last Vodka." Lucas took it, lit a rag, and wound up. "Yellow car." It was the second furthest, and he hit the tire, melting what little rubber was left.

"Champagne, I guess." Delsin tied a rag around it, shook it up, and lit the rag. "Green car." You could tell it was green because it had paint left. It had been hit the least of three. He tossed it as hard as he could. The bottle slammed into the front door, and the resulting explosion was larger then the others, because the champagne flew everywhere.

"Niiiice." Ellie gave him a highfive. "But I bet I can hit the brick wall." She grabbed a Jack Daniels, lit it, and threw it. Flames erupted on a brick wall, which stood alone, free of vegetation. "Sweet." They all watched the flames burn out, slowly.

"Okay, slingshot." They brought out a slingshot, which was just one big elastic band. Lupe and Lucas held two opposite ends. "Delsin, you do the honors."

Delsin stretched the band back, and let the flaming cocktail soar into the air, passing far out into the town, and hitting ((thankfully)) a car way out in the midst.

"Sweet. Let's do it again!"

Lucas shook his head. "The last bottle is always for us."

"Well, that's even better."

Lucas rummaged in a table drawer, and pulled out shot glasses. "Here you go."

Delsin poured some Jack Daniels out into three.

"What about you?" Lupe asked.

Delsin smiled roguishly, and took a swig from the bottle. "What about me?"

"I like him." Lupe downed her shot in one go.

Ellie rolled her eyes, and took a shot.

Lucas laughed. "This is gonna be awesome."

One bottle of Jack Daniels later, everyone was thoroughly plastered. Lupe and Lucas had wandered off by themselves, leaving Delsin and Ellie alone.

"You're so great," Ellie gushed. "You stole for us and everything."

"I know, I'm aweeeeesoooome." Delsin patted Ellie on the head. "It wasn't even hard, the guard was sleeping." he made a silly, drunken face, and Ellie laughed. "You're cool."

Delsin just cracked a wobbly smile.

Ellie draped an arm around Delsin, and pulled him into a kiss.

Delsin kissed back. Later, neither of them would admit to the other whether it was the alcohol or just mutual attraction. They started a passionate makeout session, Ellie sitting on top of Delsin, who was lying down. They mashed their lips together, awkwardly, and Delsin slipped his tongue into her mouth, exploring it. He enjoyed the taste of her, and the feeling of her kissing him back, and her hands under his shirt, on his skin. Pulling apart for a second, to gasp for air, he grinned, and she laughed. "You're good at that."

"I try to please."

"Is that why you gave me your jacket?" She tilted her head, questioningly, as she slipped it off.

"Maybe a bit." His eyes widened as she removed her shirt.

"Well, that was sweet." She leaned on top of him, pressing herself tight against him, and kissed him again, sliding her tongue over and around his.

Delsin reached inside a pocket, and pulled out a chocolate, and slipped it into Ellie's mouth. "I like chocolate."

She smiled, and sucked on it, relishing the sweetness. "So do I." She kissed him again, and the sweetness of the chocolate mixing with the heat of their passion.

Ellie woke up first, her body resting heavily on Delsin's, and with a pounding headache. "Ugh." She slapped herself a couple times on the cheek. "Come on, Ellie. Get it together." She shivered, goosebumps raising on her skin, and realized she wasn't wearing a shirt. "Well, at least I kept my pants on," she muttered, tugging her shirt on. She wasn't mad at Delsin, after all she did come onto him. _What was I thinking? Oh, I was drunk. Right._ Groaning inwardly, she slid off of Delsin. _Well, I'm gonna have to tell him._ Gauging her feelings, she knew it was more than just the alcohol last night. After putting on her jacket, she slapped Delsin roughly. "Get up!"

He snapped to attention. "What, what?" His eyes were bloodshot and his hair mussed.

"Relax, we're fine. But we need to find Lupe and Lucas, then get back before anyone realizes we're gone."  
Delsin checked his pack, and strapped it on, along with his tomahawk and trench spike. "You still have your knife?"

Ellie fished it out from under a dresser, where it had landed when she threw it away. "Yeah." She turned to face him. "Hey about last night…"

_She's gonna say she doesn't like me._ He forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know. It was just the Jack Daniels."  
"Right, right!" She nodded a little too quickly. "We're still friends, though, okay?"

"Yeah, duh." Delsin gave a half-hearted grin, then laced up his shoes. "But we should get going."

"Yeah…" Ellie contemplated this turn of event while tying her shoes. _He doesn't like me? I guess it was too much to ask, huh?_ She wondered if she could ever change his mind. It's not as if she was contemplating a future with him, more like she wanted to date him for a bit. _Maybe I can get him to come around…_ She finished, and led him downstairs. "They probably went into the town."

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Just keep an eye out, okay?"

"For what? Infected-" A clicking noise came from directly in front of them.  
"Oh shit, get down!" Ellie crouched behind a car, and Delsin took cover behind a wall.

"What are you doing?" She hissed at him.

He placed a finger to his lips, and drew his trench spike. Slowly, he approached the Clicker, then jumped on it, driving his knife into it's throat, cutting off it's harsh cry. The clicker stumbled, grabbed at the knife, then fell. Delsin wiped the blade on the grass, then motioned for Ellie to follow. She did, and as soon as they entered the first house she whispered, "What the hell was that?"

"Me saving us from a potential crisis. We need to find Lucas and Lupe, quick!"

They got onto the roof, and began leaping from one to the next, searching each house.

Ellie frowned. "I don't like this. There was only the one clicker? I don't think so."

"That means they're all hiding somewhere, probably where there's tons of spores." Just then, he saw Lupe and Lucas through a gap in the wall. "Guys! Lucas!" he whispered fiercely. "We've got infected!"

That one sentence roused them, and soon they were all reunited.

"We need to leave, fast." Lucas talked low, and he seemed to fade into his hood.

"I agree, we don't have the equipment for this."

Ellie shook her head."We can't leave! If we do, the infected might find the town. They'd definitely hear us going into the passageway."

Delsin frowned. "How many there are, and if there any bloaters, is what we need to know. We can all agree if the number is more than fifteen or they have a bloater, we need to book it."

"Fine!" Ellie hissed. "But we need to go see. You guys stay here, we'll check out the last house."

"Are you crazy? It's infested with spores. That's why we never go there!" Lupe was angry now. "We need to leave!"

"Ellie and I are immune."  
Lucas rubbed his forehead, trying to think."That doesn't save you from being eaten alive, mate."

Ellie stuck out her tongue. "Fine. We'll just be super sneaky. Come on, Delsin." He nodded, and they left, going out the front door and towards the last house, treading softly, in an attempt not to shatter any of the glass from the night before.

The both peeked in through a window, and counted in their heads. "Oh no. That's like thirty." Delsin turned, but Ellie grabbed his hand. "Give me a bottle."

"I don't have anymore-"  
"Yes you do. On the bottom, you have one more bottle."  
Quietly, he rummaged through his pack, and handed it to her. She lit it, wincing when a Lurker twitched at the sound of the lighter. "Close the door after I throw it, okay?"

Delsin nodded, and got ready for the dash.

"One...Two… Three!" She popped up, and tossed the Molotov in at the same time that Delsin slammed the door. They took of running, not waiting to see the damage the had wrought, already hearing the screams. "GO!" Lucas and Lupe sprung after them, and they all raced into the smuggler's tunnel. Delsin and Lucas heaved, and managed to shut the door. "Oh thank god." They ran all they way back to Joel's house, and shut the door, excited and scared.

"That was fucking intense." Ellie's heart was racing.

"You think?" Delsin sat on the couch next to her. "I almost got grabbed."

"Well, we made it," Lucas said. "That's what counts."

"I'm not going back," Lupe said with a nervous laugh.

Lucas got a twinkle in his eyes, and turned to Ellie and Delsin"So how did you two enjoy your alone time?"

"Fuck off."

"None of your goddamn business."

He raised both hands in supplication. "Whoa! Don't be hatin just cause I tried to help."

"Help?" Ellie shook a finger in his face, "You could have gotten us all killed!"

"Oh come on, It's obvious you two have it for each other, badly. I've only know Delsin for a few hours, and I can see that."

Delsin narrowed his eyes.

Ellie blushed. "I said fuck off. Go home or something, but you can't stay here."

Lucas shrugged, and got up, leaving.

Lupe looked at both of them, obviously amused. She shook her head, then left.

Delsin slumped on the couch, arms spread over the back. "Well, that's over."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah." She slipped into the crook of his arm. "It is."

Delsin gave her a friendly squeeze on the shoulder, and they sat for a few minutes, in silence. "Oh, I'm gonna go check my iPod, okay?"

Ellie nodded, still a little upset with herself that she broke it. "Yeah, okay." As Delsin left, she realized that she was even more upset by the fact that he left her sitting on the couch, alone. _Shit. I do have it bad._ She headed up to her room, and shut the door, sinking against the wood. _Shit._ She let her head fall into her hands. "What am I going to to?" She asked her room. Of course, her room didn't answer, so she just sat there, lamenting.

Delsin stared at the iPod, surprised. "It just needed charging? Sweet." He selected a song by the band called "Rise Against" As he closed his eyes, he began to sing along.  
_You can't feel the heat until you hold your hand over the flame_

_You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays_

_You won't know your worth now, son, until you take a hit_

_And you won't find the beat until you lose yourself in it_

He smiled, humming along, blissfully unaware of Ellie's struggles.

Ellie had long since moved to her bed. "Why can't I just tell him?" She flopped face-down in her pillow. "FUCK!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It's best to take out anger on inanimate objects ((or someone could get hurt))

Delsin got up early to make breakfast for Ellie. Just because she doesn't like me is no excuse not to make breakfast. He cooked bacon, chopped up vegetables from the small garden they had outback, and threw it into a giant omelette. He put slices of cheese, and smothered it in chili. He set out the plate, and made himself one.

Ellie wandered downstairs, still in her Pj's and rubbing her eyes. "Why are you up so damn early?" She asked, plonking into a chair, her eyes still half-shut.

"I made you breakfast." He tossed a fork at her. "Try it."

"Did you put rat poison in it or something?" Just having woken up, she didn't quite comprehend how to brain. ((That's not a typo.))

"No! Why would I do that?!" He took a bite out of his. "See?"

"Still not convinced." She pried her eyes open.

He snagged a bit of her omelette on his fork, and ate it. "See?"

Ellie grumbled, and began to eat. "It better not be poisoned." As soon as the first bite entered her mouth, her eyes widened and her face lit up in a smile. "This is freaking delicious!" She wolfed down the rest of it, and Delsin worried he'd have to fight her off to keep his.

She let out a belch. "Thanks, D."  
"D?"

"Yeah, that's your nickname. D."

"Can I call you E?" He ate some more of his omelette, chewing slowly and relishing every bite.

"No, you have to come up with something original."

"Short stuff?"

She leveled her knife at him. "No."

"Baby face?" He asked, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the pure bliss that was the omelette.

That's just weird." She eyed his omelette, imagining how great it would taste. No, he hasn't even eaten half yet. I'll wait a little before asking him for some.

"Demon?" He slowly and teasingly placed a bite of the omelette in his mouth, and he chewed, taking his time before he swallowed.

"Someone else came up with that." Maybe just a little bite…

"Hmm...Great kisser?" Delsin popped more omelette in his mouth. He was having so much fun tormenting her.

Ellie blushed and stared at the table, forgetting her hunger. "Definitely not." Did he mean that?

"B-cup?" he asked, his gaze fixed on her eyes as he ate more of his omelette. He was getting down to the last few bites.

Ellie stared back, despite her blush deepening. "I'll hide your body where no one can find it." Did he really pay that much attention to me?

Delsin chewed on some more of his egg. "Hmmm. I liked B-cup the best." She's totally freaking out. This is hilarious!

Ellie raised the butter knife. "No one."

He raised his hands. "Okay, okay. How about Fire-girl?"

"Hmmm…" She looked off into the distance, and tapped her finger on her chin. "Okay."  
"Sweet. Fire-girl." Delsin had one piece of omelette left. it was dripping with gooey cheese and hot chilli, and so stuffed with bacon, bell peppers and onions that it could barely hold all of it. He stuck his fork in it, and raised his to his lips.

Ellie's eyes followed the omelette, her mouth slightly open.

And then he did what no one expected: he popped the last bite in Ellie's mouth.

Ellie would have said something, but the omelette was too heavenly. She chewed, and sat back in her chair, smiling, but still blushing a little from the "b-cup" and "great kisser" remarks.

"Anyway," She said, when she had finished. "You wanna go shoot stuff?"

Delsin grinned. "I'm always down to go shoot stuff."

A few minutes later, they were headed to the indoor shooting range. "I thought you meant live stuff," Delsin complained, his rifle in hand.

"Oh, shut up, chocolate boy." She headed inside, leaving Delsin to blush.

"Wait, I thought my nickname was D." He headed in after her, and began setting up, loading his pistol and rifle, then selecting his targets.

"Your nickname is what I say it is." She aimed down the sights of her pistol, and fired. The shot was a few inches away from the X ring. "Beat that."

"No problem, Miss shirtless." He moved forward, and fired, leaving a perfect hole in the middle of the head.

"That's not even close, loser." She stuck her tongue out.

Delsin rolled his eyes. "If that was an infected, I'd be alive and you'd be dead." He dropped a hershey's kiss on her tongue. "I love chocolate," he said evenly. Then he whipped around and put a bullet in the X-ring of the human sized target. "Bingo. Happy now?"

Ellie had sucked in the chocolate, and smirked. "Anytime I beat your sorry ass, I'm happy." She fired, and her bullet was closer to the X. "Where do you keep getting that chocolate from?"

"I stole it." Delsin looked at her, tilting his head. "But that was my last piece."  
Ellie worked the chocolate in her mouth, letting it melt. "You're welcome to come and get it." I didn't just say that. Please, let this be a terrible dream.

Delsin smiled, and fired again, his shot now closer to the X. I can't believe she just said that to me. Maybe I was wrong about her liking me. "If you insist." He kissed Ellie and stole the chocolate right out of her mouth. "Now, where were we?" He fired twice, hitting the X once. "Beat that."

"You're acting like that's hard." She set down her pistol, set her rifle to her shoulder, and put a bullet dead center in the X. "Game over, I win."

"What's the prize?" he asked coolly, unloading his weapons. The chocolate hadn't quite melted in his mouth.

Ellie pried open his mouth, reached in, and grabbed the chocolate. But the problem was, Delsin closed his mouth on her fingers, with an amused expression on his face.

"Let go, D."

He shook his head, and began to lick the chocolate from between her fingers, smiling.

"Hey, stop!" She tugged, but, Delsin grabbed her wrist and continued licking the chocolate off her fingers, and Ellie stifled a laugh. "Seriously, stop!"

Delsin smiled, and opened his mouth. "Delicious."

Ellie snatched her hand back. "Thank you." Then she blushed. Did I just thank him for saying that I was delicious?

"You're welcome." Delsin raised his rifle and fired, putting another hole in the head of the target. "I guess you win."

"Yeah." She wiped her hand on her jeans, and raised her rifle. "I'm a better fucking shot then you, so stop bitching." She put a shot in the middle of the head.  
Delsin matched her shot, the hole simply looking more ragged. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." He blew her a kiss, and fired again, the shot perfect.

She rolled her eyes. "Someone's laying it on thick." Ellie fired, and put a hole slightly off center.

Delsin pulled the trigger again, matching her shot. It continued like this for some time, and eventually Ellie had riddled the whole target with bullets. Delsin had matched each one, and he smiled smugly. "Better, huh?"

Ellie flipped him the bird. "Fuck you."

"If you insist."

Ellie's face turned a whole new shade of red, and she stormed out of the shooting range.

Delsin watched her go, made sure she wasn't around, and then burst into laughter,collapsing on the ground and wiping his eyes, gasping for breath in between laughs. It's funny that I can manipulate her so easily! Oh, god. Her face when I said, "if you insist?" Priceless. If only I had a camera… damn. He changed the target out for a fresh one, and cleaned up all the spent shells, still chuckling.

Ellie left, angrier than when she went in. He's an Idiot! He pisses me off so much, ugh! She swung the butt of the rifle at a squirrel who scampered out of the way and chattered at her from the relative safety of a tree. Ellie shouldered her rifle and considered the squirrel, who's annoying chattering reminded her of Delsin. I should have put a bullet in his head. She stormed away, reaching her room in record slammed ((and locked)) her door, and flopped onto her bed, angry, at Delsin and with herself. I think I like him, and then he goes and does something stupid like this! She balled up her fist, and punched the pillow. Before she knew what was happening, she was pounding the pillow again and again, blow after blow, directing all her anger into the pillow. Standing up, she kicked it across the room, fuming. It landed against the wall, and she kicked it and kicked it until her legs were tired, and she was panting from the exertion. Calmer now, she ran a hand through her hair, and sat down on the pillow, leaning against the wall, which right now seemed to be the only stable thing in her life. Joel's gone, and I don't know if he's coming back… Delsin is crazy, and those infected we left…There's no way we got all of them with just one Molotov. She sighed, fed up with the world. "This is absolute fucking shit," she said to the wall. "Absolute. Fucking. Shit."

Delsin was heading home, feeling a little bad for embarrassing Ellie. Only a little bit, but enough to feel sorry for what he'd done. I really shouldn't have made that dumb joke, or bit her hand. What was that, anyway? I'd better not be turning. He dismissed the thought, continuing on his way to the house. Fuck. That was really fucking stupid. Maybe if I'm lucky, she'll forgive me. He opened the door, and headed upstairs, pausing in front of Ellie's door, then heading to his own. Maybe an apology note would be better than talking to her. I don't want my poor face to get bashed in, any more than it is already. Entering his room, he sat down at the desk, and pulled out a pencil. He chewed on the eraser a bit, then began to write.

Dear Ellie-

He erased that, and started again. It sounds to formal. For a while, the only sounds that came from his room were the scratching of pencil on paper, the creak of his old wooden chair, and his steady breathing. He finished in about half an hour, and sat back. "Whew." He began to proofread it, his spelling wasn't the best. ((If spelling errors bug you, don't read this.))

Hey, Ellie.

If your reading this then you at least took the note from me. I'm sorry about beeing such a incorrigible ((he had looked that word up)) jurk. That's to say, I'm an asshole and an idiot. At least you took the note from me, and that's got to caount for something. I'm reelly sorry for those jokes and I want to still be friends.

-Delsin

He looked at the note, then erased a little bit, and wrote more.

I can understand if you don't want to talk to me. But if it's okay, then I wanna be a little more then friends. If your okay with that.

-Delsin

He sighed, and folded up the note. My spelling is terrible, but it's the thought that counts, right? Folding up the note, he wrote Ellie on the front, and left the safety of his room to knock on the door of the sleeping dragon.

There was no response. He tried the handle, but the door was locked. he placed his ear to the door, and didn't believe what he heard. She's sleeping.

And so she was, snoring gently, her mouth hanging open.

You've gotta be shitting me. Who goes to sleep at 10:00 in the morning? He tapped lightly on her door. "Ellie."

A snore came from within, causing Delsin to roll his eyes. "Ellie." He rapped on the door again.

She stirred briefly, and then went right back to sleeping.

Well, desperate times call for lockpicks. He re-entered his room, and came back, lockpicks in hand.

He thinks I'm going to talk to him? As if. Ellie had woken up after he knocked the first time, and simply pretended to be asleep.

Delsin looked at the lock, putting a little magnifying glass right up to it. This should be really simple. He inserted the tools, and began to jiggle the lock. I'll just go in, put the note on her desk, then leave. Easy. He was rewarded when the door swung open, after a few seconds.

Ellie heard the door open. I thought I locked the- A flashback reminded her that Delsin picked the lock to the warehouse. Oh, shit!

Delsin snuck over to her desk, then placed the note. As he turned around to assure she was still sleeping, his mouth fell open. Ellie was sleeping in her bra and panties, with no covers because it was in the middle of the sweltering summer. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. He twice as carefully left the room, silently closing the door behind him. Shit shit shit! It was all he could do not to run into his room. "It had to happen to me, obviously." As he stared at the ceiling, laying on the floor, he wondered which deity he had offended, and how.

That did not just fucking happen. Ellie rolled off her bed. Fuck, fuck fuck! She seemed to grow more fond of the word the more trouble she was in. He picked the lock and came in here, MY ROOM, and I was almost naked. She mentally berated herself, until she noticed the note on her desk. This better not be a lame-ass apology. This better be the best fucking apology I've ever read. Snatching up the note, she began to read. Her eyes widened as the second to last sentence was processed by her brain. More than friends? Holy shit, and he just saw me in my fucking panties. FUCK!

This was the bandit camp, he was sure of it. That, or it's a damn good fake. Joel lowered the binoculars, and sat back, relaxing into the crook of the tree he was currently spotting from. We've got 'em now. He raised the radio to his lips. "Command, this is Grey Ghost." The word had gotten around the small town, and now he was stuck with the callsign. Maybe my hair is that grey.

"This is command. Go ahead."  
"I've positively ID'd the bandit camp. What else should I do?"

"Make a note of your current position, then return to base. We'll make a plan later. Command out."

"Grey Ghost out."Joel packed up what little he had, and began to retreat. We've got the bastards now.

Ellie was still unsure of what to do, so she paced her room, back and forth, trying to wear a groove into the floorboards. More then friends, More than friends. Did he mean like brother and sister? Or did he mean, well, boyfriend and girlfriend? I'm only 14, I shouldn't have to deal with this shit. I should be worrying about my next meal, or running from the infected. This is totally unfair to me.

Is she really sleeping that long? Jeez, it's like 12:30 now. Delsin stared at his watch, watching the gears and cogs tick away precious seconds of his life. Maybe I should knock.

That's it, I'm going over there. I can't deal with this right now, not by myself. Ellie yanked her door open at the same time Delsin opened his. They just stared at each other, not sure what to say. Delsin's note hung in Ellie's left hand.

"So, you read the note?"

"Yeah. So, you went into my room?" She didn't quite know, how to phrase it, so she pulled the leather jacket tighter around herself. "You saw… Me?"

"Um…" Delsin looked down the hall, but there was no salvation in that direction. "Yes."

The already awkward conversation was falling apart, much like the USSR in 1991. Delsin shifted his stance, and Ellie stared at the floor. "So… You wrote something on there. The note, I mean."

"Yeah. Um, what did you think about it?"

"Well, for starters, I accept your apology. For the other thing…" Riley's face flashed in Ellie's mind, and she tried not to cry at the sudden memory. "Sure, we can give it a shot, I guess." Are you kidding me, Ellie? She could hear Riley lecturing her. That was some weak shit!

Delsin nodded slowly. "Okay." Wow, she's actually gonna give me a shot?

"Yeah." You gotta seal the deal, Ellie! He probably thinks you don't mean it, and you can't have that. She leaned forward, and pecked him on the cheek.

Delsin was surprised, and he gave her a peck back. "So we're… Dating?" It was a concept alien to him at least.

"I guess." Ellie had no clue about how dating was supposed to work. Maybe if I ask Joel, he'll have some ideas.

Johnny patrolled the area, not really expecting anything to happen. He was just doing his rounds on the abandoned houses, after all. But then, while passing by one, he heard a thumping noise. Interested, he went to investigate. He followed the sound down into the basement, where he could have sworn the thumping was coming from behind a huge wooden crate. He pushed on one side of the crate, not bothering to radio in, because again, he didn't expect a Clicker to reach through the newly opened passage and tear his throat out, nor did he expect at least fifty infected to flow through the passageway and eat him alive.

Lilly was supposed to be on patrol with Johnny, but she was running late, as per usual. She heard terrible noises coming from an abandoned house, It sounds like infected."Control, we've got a possible breach in house 339."

"Infected or bandit?"

"Sounds like Infected. It sounds like a lot. Can you send backup?" She drew her handgun.

"Backup on it's way. Arrival should be in 2 minutes."

The first Lurker made it's way out the front door, saw Lilly, and screamed. She shot it in the head once, dropping it. Then more piled out of the house, Clickers and Lurkers and…

A bloater ambled out of the house.

Lilly was screaming into the radio. "We've got a bloater! Bloater, bloater-"

She was hit in the face by one of the bloater's spore bombs, and she died on impact. The horde moved forward, screaming, clicking and moaning.

Delsin and Ellie's radio's squawked. "We've got a breach! Women and children report to the bunker, all armed units head to house 339, but be careful! Infected have been sighted, one bloater…"

Ellie looked at Delsin. "339…" It went unspoken that they had used that house, and that tunnel.

His face grew pale, an


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Boom, Headshot

They raced towards house 339, the decrepit buildings looking unfriendly in the daytime, and took cover behind some buildings, out of sight from the infected who were now just wandering, moaning and Clicking.

"Shit, there's a lot." Ellie peeked around the Corner. "How should we do this?"

Delsin loaded his pistol, and peeked around the corner. "We need to get to a vantage point, like the top of a house or something." He looked up at a window. "If I boost you, can you get inside?"

"Duh." She backed up to take a running start, then sprinted at Delsin, put a foot in his hand, and he tossed her up into the window. She crawled inside, and Delsin spoke into the radio. "Okay, get on the roof."

"No shit, Sherlock." She clambered through an attic. "Okay." She aimed the Rifle down at some zombies. "Should I shoot?"

"No, then they'll just run through the house. I'm gonna stealth kill, and you spot me."

"Lame." but she listened to him anyways, watching carefully as he stealthily killed infected, one at at a time.

Delsin dragged the bodies into the alleyway, and peeked around the corner, almost coming face to face with a Clicker. He jammed a knife into the clicker's throat and drew his gun, and whispered into the radio. "Start shooting-"

A squad of militia rounded the corner on the other side, and began firing from their various rifles. "We've reached the breach," the radio squawked, and the infected rushed towards the militia, screaming their deranged screams.

Ellie started shooting, and Delsin fired multiple rounds from his handgun, which made some of the Infected turn to chase Delsin and he sprinted away, leading them to Ellie. She paused to reload, and Delsin was left fighting hand-to-hand, trying desperately not to get his head bashed in, swinging his tomahawk, and slicing throats, left and right. He was tackled to the ground, and right before the Clicker made him into lunch, Ellie blew its head off.

He flashed her a quick grin and a thumbs up, and wondered why she looked so horrified. Then a spore bomb hit him in the back and launched him across the street.

Ellie pushed the image of Delsin rolling across the concrete, and focused on the bloater. _You're gonna fucking pay for that._ She emptied round after round into the bloater, but all that did was turn it in her direction, and she found herself rolling across the roof in an attempt to dodge the spore bomb, which sailed over her and impacted the house behind.

The militia was doing pretty well, considering that there were only about ten of them against fifty. They now turned their fire on the bloater, splitting up and shooting from behind cover. All of them wore gas masks, to prevent them from breathing in spores. The bloater hurled bomb after bomb, but eventually succumbed to its numerous wounds, and collapsed onto the street. Ellie shouldered her rifle and slid off the roof, running towards Delsin. "Delsin!" She rolled him over, "Oh god please be okay please be okay!" It felt like Riley all over again, and tears formed in her eyes, stinging. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, and Delsin took a shaky breath. "I think I'm okay. I think. My ribs may or may not be bruised." Every time he inhaled, pain wracked his chest. _At least I'm not coughing up fluid._ He had seen a lung puncture once, and seemed like a terrible way to die. trying to be upbeat, he cracked a smile, splitting his lip."That was pretty awesome, huh?"

Ellie could not believe him. "Awesome? You could have fucking died!"

He nodded despite the pain coursing through his body every time he moved. "The adrenaline rush is crazy."

Ellie almost punched him in the balls. "You are a fucking idiot. Let's just get you to the hospital, for fuck's sake." She waved the militia over, and they carried him away. "Adrenaline rush my ass." She watched him leave, and biting her lip, hurried after him.

"You've got to be incredibly lucky, Delsin." The doctor, who was named Patience, gently poked and prodded his ribs and back. "No major injuries, just two bruised ribs, and that was from smashing into the concrete. Your spine is also completely undamaged, which is probably an act of god." She handed him a handwritten note, "This is a prescription for some pain pills and common sense. I can only give you the pills, unfortunately. What were you thinking, just running out there and fighting?"

"I was just doing what I've done for a while now." He shrugged, and winced at the action.

Patience clucked her tongue. "You really need to be more careful." She guided him out of her office, and he went to the counter to fill his prescription. _This is really weird._ It felt alien, just to stand in a line and get exactly what he needed for nothing at all. The pharmacist even smiled at him, and he smiled back. As soon as he got out of line, he saw Ellie, and he limped over, easing into one of the plastic chairs. "We can go now."

She nodded, looking worried. "What's the damage?"

"Just some bruised ribs. Thank god my glorious face stayed intact."

She shoved him lightly, aware that he was sensitive right now, "Shut the fuck up, you narcissist."

He widened his eyes, mockingly. "Wow, that's a big word. Are you sure you know what it means?"

Ellie kissed him on the lips. _I'm glad you're okay,_ a tiny voice in her head whispered.

"Screw you. Let's get out of here." She stood and offered an arm, for support on the walk home. Delsin accepted it, and he ambled out of the hospital with her.

As soon as they reached home, Delsin twisted off the little cap and popped two pills, downing them with a swig of water. "Oh, that's the stuff." He waved his arms around, or tried to. They just flopped at his sides. "I feel all loopy."

Ellie snorted at his sudden loss of muscle control. "Come on, go lay down," she said, tugging him upstairs. "You need rest to get better."

"It's just two bruised ribs," He complained, lying on the bed and getting under the covers. It took a while for him to notice what was different. "Hey, this is your room."

"Oh, really? I didn't notice." She kicked the door shut. "Oops." Slipping off her jacket, she crawled into bed with him. "I think I should lay down too, don't you?"

"I might be higher than a kite, but I can see where this is going." He smiled, and moved his arm around Ellie, but she stopped him. "You've got something on your lips. I'll get it." She leaned forward and kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. She pulled back for a little air, and Delsin couldn't resist a joke, _No matter how stupid it is._ "Did you get it?"

"I don't think so." She kissed him again, careful not to squeeze him too tight, and he slid his hands around her waist, squeezing. "You've got a nice ass."

She smiled sweetly. "Pervert."

"Says the one that got in bed with me."

"Fuck you." She poked him in his ribs, "I was trying to be romantic."

"That's a great idea. The first part, I mean."

"Slow down, Romeo." She placed a hand on his chest, asserting herself. "Not yet. I'm not ready."

He shrugged, "Well, I totally respect that."

She nodded thankfully. _Phew. I thought that would be way more awkward._ "You know, it's hot under these covers."

"It's just me." Delsin didn't even get a chance to laugh, because Ellie pulled off her shirt. Delsin suddenly found his lame joke wiped from his mind, as he lifted his hands, and gently grabbed her breasts.

Ellie blushed a little bit. ((I have no idea what she'd be thinking. Maybe she's self-conscious?))

Delsin played with them a little bit, feeling her nipples stiffen. He didn't dare pull off her bra, _Because A) I don't want to ruin this moment and B) I would like to keep my hands attached to my wrists._ He trailed kisses along her neckline, and then sucked hungrily on her neck.

Ellie let out a little moan. "Delsin." Her heart pounded in her chest. _That's going to leave one hell of a mark._

Delsin kissed her again, cupping the back of her head with one hand, and massaging her breast with the other. "Ellie?"

"Ye-yeah?" She was trembling with a mix of excitement, nervousness and pleasure.

"You're perfect." He attacked her neck again, and she let him.

((Hey guys, Zeta here.

I've been blown away by the number of people reading this. It's only been about a week and i already have over 440 views. I mean, I totally didn't expect this when I started. I thought that maybe I'd get a few views, and was mostly writing the story for me. But now, I'm gonna write for all of you guys. I'll try to write to the best of my ability, but remember, I'm only human. If I screw up, or you have pointers, Pm me or leave a review. You can also Pm me If you want me to add something to the story, or want me to write a different story altogether. If I don't use your idea, please don't be offended or some stupid shit like that. I either A) don't know much about the topic B) I'm not really interested C) It's not the direction I want to take my story [or something I want to write about] and D) I don't have the time to work your suggestion in. Thanks for all the views and keep 'em coming!

~Zeta))


	8. Chapter 8

((Sup guys, It's me again.  
I'd like to start this chapter by saying something along the lines of HOLY SHIT! I have 867 views! I doubled my views in one day! You guys are awesome, seriously. Seriously fucking awesome. Thanks for all the support, and for the suggestions I revived. I'll be implementing some of those.

~Zeta))

**Chapter 8**

Seriously, learn to knock

Joel opened the door, ready to come home and relax. _That mission was a whole new kind of stressful. Well, at least all we've got to do is plan the attack._ He looked around for Ellie and Delsin, but they were nowhere to be found. _Well, they said they left the hospital, so he's fine._ Tommy had filled Joel in on what happened in his absence. _An old smuggling tunnel. I wonder why we'd never found it?_ He headed upstairs, and opened Delsin's door. _Huh, not here._ He reached for Ellie's doorknob, and twisted it. He pushed the door open just in time to see Ellie shirtless and kissing Delsin, and to notice Delsin's hands were on her chest. "Whoa." _I'm not sure if I'm angry or relieved._ The two had liked each other from the start, that much was obvious.

Ellie felt eyes on the back of her neck, and turned to see Joel standing there. The expression on his face was a blend between amusement and surprise. She turned bright red, covered herself with the sheets, and tossed something within arm's distance at Joel. "GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Joel ducked as a hammer nearly smashed him in the head. "Okay, okay." he left, shutting the door. _I'll give them a little privacy._ He chuckled on his way downstairs. _I used to be a teenager too._

"Did Joel just walk in here?"

Ellie curled into a ball, hiding her burning cheeks. "I didn't lock the door."

Delsin scooted over to Ellie. "Hey, It's okay-ish."

"No, it's not! It's nowhere near okay-ish!" She refused to look at him, instead turning her back to Delsin. "He saw us… And I'm pretty sure I know what he thinks we were doing."

Delsin tried to hug Ellie, but eventually settled for sitting next her. "He didn't seem mad."

"He's probably pissed. He's saving up his rage, and he's going to unleash it on us."

Delsin rolled his eyes. "You're such a drama queen."

"Have you ever seen Joel angry?"

"No, but-"

Ellie interrupted, "He killed almost an entire army of bandits because they kidnapped me."

"Army, as in…"

"At least a hundred." She was stretching the facts a bit, but she wanted to get her point across.

Delsin let his head fall into his hands. "He's gonna crucify me. Fuck."

Joel was waiting patiently downstairs. He figured that the two couldn't stay up there forever, and that they would need food eventually. _I hope they don't think I'm mad._ He was concerned maybe, but after thinking about what he had walked in on he had decided he wasn't mad. _Ellie can make her own decisions, as far as I'm concerned. Well, about some things at least._ She had once wanted to ductape a cement saw to a sledgehammer to make a "sledge saw". _Not one of her best moments,_ Joel thought, shaking his head. _And what about that time she superglued fireworks to a crossbow, and called it a boombow. What was she thinking?_

Delsin ever the voice of reason, was trying to persuade Ellie. "We're going to have to go down, eventually."

"Hell no. We can live up here, and just steal food from the neighbors." She had uncurled, put her shirt back on, and now sat next to Delsin, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Okay, no." He laughed, and gave her a reassuring smile even though he felt extremely nervous about confronting Joel. _She looks about as scared as I feel._

She looked up,"Why not? It's possible."

"Screw that. If we're gonna get in trouble, we're gonna get in trouble. besides, what's he gonna do, ground us? Ground us from what?"

Ellie's face fell. "He could stop us from going on supply runs."

"We won't know until we talk to him" Delsin stood, and headed to the door. "I'm gonna talk to him. You coming or not?"

Ellie sighed, and skulked after Delsin. "I guess."

"Good. Besides, I'm hungry." Delsin twisted the doorknob, and they trudged downstairs.

Joel was still waiting on the couch. "Sit." He waved his hand at two chairs he had brought from the kitchen.

They sat, looking at Joel like he was their executioner.

He leaned forward. "Let me start by saying that I'm not mad." He saw the look of disbelief on their faces, and nodded. "I'm not mad at all. You two have been forced to grow up way too fast, but grown up you are. For the most part. However, there are some…things we need to talk about." He looked Delsin in the eyes. "If you're going to be doing that, you need to use condoms."

"Whoa, Joel! What the hell?!" Ellie stood up, glaring at him. "We weren't even-"

"Well then forgive me for assuming you were. But this prevents us from having the same conversation at a later date." Delsin nodded, silently, and Joel was glad that at least he got it. "And you, young lady. I'm going to get you some birth control pills." He forestalled her outburst by raising a hand. "And yes, I know. You weren't having sex. But this way, if in the spur of the moment, or by mutual decision, you two do eventually do get that intimate, You'll be prepared, somewhat." He sighed. _I really shouldn't be having this conversation with a fourteen and fifteen year old, but what's done is done. They obviously like each other, and better safe than sorry._ "Go on, get out of here. Go do something."

Delsin got up to leave with Ellie.

"Something that is not each other." Joel warned.

Her cheeks flaming, Ellie stormed out of the house. Delsin looked unsure of what to do.

"Yes, you can go get her."

He flashed Joel a quick grin, "Thanks. She's a handful."

Joel rolled his eyes. "Preaching to the quire, Delsin."

Delsin rushed out of the house after Ellie, "Ellie, wait up!"

"Can you believe him?" She was still furious. "Even after I _clearly said_ we weren't having…" She paused, not really wanting to say the word. "He still goes on about "condoms" and "birth control"! Ugh, sometimes I hate him!" She gave an empty trash can a vicious kick, toppling it with a resounding crash. "I need to get out of here. Let's go get some supplies."

"So, a scouting mission then?"

Ellie clapped, slowly. "You figured it out, genius."

"Not to rain on your parade, but all of our stuff is back at the house."

Joel was studying a map in the kitchen when the front door was violently kicked open, and Ellie rushed past him. "I am _not_ talking to you!"

Delsin followed, and gave Joel an apologetic shrug.

Joel waved him away, and continued studying the map.

Ellie was upstairs angrily shoving things in her bag. "Fucking ridiculous."

Delsin carefully arranged items in his bag, according to importance. _Ammo, for rifle and pistol. Check. Water, check. Medkits, check. Flashlight, check. What you do before you wreck yourself, Check._

"I can't believe him!" Ellie seethed, tossing in whatever she felt like.

_Food, check. Two empty pockets for stuff we find, check. Map and radio, check. Compass and binoculars, check._ Delsin shouldered his pack, and opened his door.

Ellie kicked her pillow, and yanked her door open. "Let's get out of here. If I stay any longer I might shoot Joel." She stormed downstairs, ignoring Joel, and Delsin followed her, offering another apologetic look.

_Ah, she'll be fine eventually,_ Joel thought to himself. _I hope._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 10**

Run (for supplies)

Ellie threw the door to the stables open, still mad but calming down. "Here's where we keep the horses and stuff. This one's mine." She stroked the snout of a younger, brown horse who had a white star on its forehead. "Hey, Buttercup."

Delsin could barely contain his laughter. _Buttercup? She named her horse Buttercup?_ he had imagined something like "Ravager" or "Terrorizer", but no, her horse was named Buttercup.

"I didn't get to name her."

"That explains a lot." Delsin stroked Buttercup's snout. "So, where's mine?"

"You don't get one, not until new horses are born." Ellie opened the gate and entered the enclosure, saddling her horse. "And there's a long line."

"Sign me up, I want a horse." Deslin watched Ellie attach the saddle, interested. "How am I getting there?"

"You're walking." Ellie laughed at his dismayed expression. "No, idiot. You ride behind me." She hopped up onto Buttercup. "And no, you may not feel me up while we ride, unless you want to fall off."

"Never thought about it." Delsin hopped up on the saddle, and slid behind her. "Can I wrap my arms around your waist?"

"You may," Ellie teased.

Delsin complied. "Well, heigh-ho Silver."

"You mean Buttercup." Ellie had them set off at a gentle trot as they left the stable.

"Yeah, whatever." Delsin waved to the guards as they left the walls.

The guards waved back. "Good luck," chirped the radio.

"Thanks," Delsin answered.

They set out onto what used to he a freeway, but was now littered with rusted car wrecks and overgrown with moss. Trees were now providing more support to the overpass than the crumbling concrete pillars. Skeletons, old and blackened, sat in the cars.

"Not very cheery, is it?" Delsin said, watching the skeletons, almost expecting one to jump at them.

"We've tried cleaning it up, but it's more trouble than it's worth." Ellie maneuvered Buttercup around the metal heaps. "We're going to a small town that's mostly been picked clean, excepting downtown, which happens to be infested."

"Lucky me." Delsin leaned forward, resting on Ellie's back.

"Oh, shut up. You know you love danger."

"That's you. Not me." Delsin pulled his arms tighter. "Now, how infested?"

"Not very, but no one wanted to bother. Supposedly nothing good would be in there, but I bet we missed the cool stuff."

"What's on the infected side of town?

"Mostly houses, but there is a gun shop dead in the center."

"Center of town?"

"Nope." Ellie shook her head, causing her ponytail to bob up and down. "Dead in the center of the infected zone."

Delsin sighed, and cocked his rifle. "Why can't anything be easy?"

"Because that's no fun." Ellie looked back, and smiled. "And I'm still angry."

Delsin suddenly felt bad for the Infected.

After tying Buttercup somewhere safe, the two jumped from roof to roof, trying to "go where no man had gone before", according to Ellie. "Imagine if they have machine guns in there," She whispered.

"You mean submachine guns, Lmg's or assault rifles?"

Ellie stuck out her tongue, and jumped to another roof. "You know, the big ones."

Delsin, laughing inwardly, persisted. "So assualt rifles or Lmg's?"

Ellie gave an approximation with her hands. "The ones with clips." She pantomimed reloading.

"Oh, assault rifles. Like the one Joel has?"

"No, one even better." Ellie was still mad at Joel, and didn't want anything even resembling his weapons.

"Okay. So like an AK-47?" In Delsin's opinion, that was _the_ Rifle to have. _But I've never had the chance to actually use one. They seem to be in demand._ He went prone on the roof, and pulled out his binoculars. "There. I see the sign."

"Sure, whatever that is." Ellie took the binoculars. "That's not too far. But look," she pointed, "There aren't any roofs leading over there. And I see…" She silently counted. "Six infected just standing around in front."

Delsin dug through his bag. "It's too bad we don't have any silencers."

Ellie gave Delsin one of her patented _You must be an idiot_ looks. "What did you think the bow was for?"

"Oh, right." Delsin shrugged. "We'll have to get close. How many arrows did you bring?"

"I don't know, fifteen to twenty?" Ellie ran to the next roof, sliding down the opposite side. "Look, I have enough. Put that with your tomahawk and your knife thing and we're good."

"It's called a trench spike."

"Whatever. We're getting close now, so shut up." She crept to the top of the roof they were on, and nocked an arrow to the bowstring.

"How many pounds is the draw?" asked Delsin.

"Look, I don't know. 40, 50?"

Delsin reached up and squeezed her biceps. "You're strong."

"Hey!" She giggled a little bit, and shook him off. "Don't jiggle me when I'm shooting!" As she took aim, she flexed a little. _Strong, huh?_ She let the arrow fly, and it pierced the skull of a lurker. She let arrow after arrow fly, and eventually cleared the parking lot of infected.

"Okay, let's go." Delsin squeezed her butt, then slid off the roof, and took off at a crouch run.

Ellie's eyes widened, and she had to stop herself from yelling at him. Sliding off the roof, and catching up to him, she cuffed his head. "What was that for?" She whispered, loudly.

"I wanted to see how your ass felt." Delsin whispered back. "It was nice and firm." Hopping through the broken front window, he axed a Clicker in the head, and eased it's body onto the ground.

Ellie followed, blushing and smiling to herself. "Really?" An arrow embedded itself in the skull of a Lurker.

"Yeah, I like it." He snuck a hand behind her and squeezed her butt again, this time earning a quiet squeal and a slap. "Stop it! We're trying to not die!"

"When you put it that way, Lurker coming down the steps."

Ellie raised the bow and hit her mark. "Yeah, stop. We can do that later. You've gotta get me my AN-94."

"AK-47, and I doubt a gun shop out here would sell one." He quickly scanned glass cabinets and behind counters. "Nope. We can check upstairs." He gently lobbed a brick, and waited for the telltale gurgle of an Infected. None came, so they quietly went up the stairs. Delsin sifted through gun after gun, looking for one he wanted. _No, no, no, no._ His eyes widened when he saw the lone AN-74 gleaming from behind locked glass. _Whoever didn't take this was an idiot. It's not as good as an Ak, but I'll take it._ Nudging Ellie, he whispered, "We need to find the keys, the glass is probably bulletproof." He wasn't worried about an alarm, but shattering glass always makes noise.

She nodded, and they began to go through desks, until Ellie held up a ring. "Success," she said, gleefully.

Delsin put a finger to his lips, then tried the keys, until one fit in the lock. He handed Ellie her new weapon, and while she examined it and pretended to shoot, he searched for some 5.4x39mm ammo. He found two boxes, and put them in his pack. "We should look for some other stuff."

Ellie nodded, and slung the weapon over her shoulder, searching for scopes, clips, anything of use. when they couldn't carry anymore, they left, sneaking out, and reached the roofs without incident. When they were safely away, Ellie highfived Delsin. "That was fucking smooth, dude."

He nodded, and grinned. "let's get out of here, my hands are shaking."

"They should be. We got a ton of loot! She threw her hands up, laughing. "We are officially the best."

"Yep." Delsin slid off the roof, and untied Buttercup. "Let's split."

"Like bananas?" Ellie cackled, and it was Delsin's turn to roll his eyes as they rode off.

"So, let me get this straight. You went to Cherry Valley, raided the gun shop,and got all this?" Tommy rubbed his head, looking at the various things two kids had brought him. Sights, suppressors, clips, ammo, handguns, knives, maintenance kits and enough beef jerky to feed an army. "All this was in that one shop?"

"And there was a ton of stuff we couldn't carry," Ellie pointed out. "So you should for sure send some guys over there."

"Okay, thanks." Delsin nodded, and glanced at the veritable goldmine. "We get to keep some of this, right?"

"What do you want?"

"Two suppressors and a scope for my new rifle," Ellie interrupted.

"Okay, I guess." Tommy handed them what they asked for. "See you guys later." As they left, he shook his head. "Some people have all the luck."

Ellie was looking at Delsin on the way home. "So, just to clear this up. I've got nice biceps?"

"Yep."

"And I've got a firm ass."

"Mhm."

She smacked him on the butt, and laughed when he jumped. "If you get to do it, so do I."

Delsin made a face. "Whatever." He held open the door for her, and she walked through.

Hey, guys." Joel was making grilled cheese with Chili for lunch.

"Guess what, Joel?" Ellie looped her arms around him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm not even mad anymore! I've got a new gun, nice biceps and a firm ass!" She left, heading upstairs, and now Joel was more confused than ever. "Delsin, what is going on?"

Delsin was trying really hard not to laugh. "You had to be there."

Joel shook his head, "Apparently. Go tell her that lunch will be ready in a few." as Delsin left, he shook his head. "Biceps." he flexed in the window, "Now those are biceps." Satisfied with his own manliness, he returned to the drudgery of cooking.


	10. Chapter 10 ((Important, Read this!))

**Chapter 11**

Leaving again

As Delsin and Ellie munched on their grilled cheese, which was made fresh ((The cheese, the bread, and even the tomatoes)) Joel sat down with them. "I'm going to be gone again, hopefully not as long this time." He passed a hand over his face, and ran it through his hair. "We're going to attack the bandit camp. We've got them now, for sure." he paused, unsure of how to broach this subject. "We're heavily outnumbered. I might not make it back."

"Joel, bullshit." Ellie slammed her palms on the table. "You always make it back." _We_ always make it back."

"Maybe not this time, Ellie."

"We've fought entire camps of people and won!"

"We had surprise on our side, and even then I was almost killed, remember?"

Ellie flashed back. _Joel, falling...a pole, sticking through his back...the mall, and the medkit...Riley._ She shook herself. "Then I'm coming-"

"Absolutely not." Joel shook his head. "You are not coming, and that's final. You. Are. Not. Coming. Period." He stared her directly in the eye. "Not. Coming."

"Joel, you can't fucking do this!"

"That's messed up." Delsin finally spoke up, and they both looked like they had forgotten he was there. "You can't go, but Joel can't stay. You've both been through so much, but it basically comes down to this: He's old, and he's male. You're young, and you're female, therefore making you a greater asset to the survival of this town than he is. Sure, he may be a great fighter. But you're skilled as well. All in all, they've weighed your lives, and yours, Ellie, carries more weight. You are unique, but, and I hate to say it, Joel can be replaced. That's the curse of being a leader, like Tommy. Sometimes you can't factor emotion into the equation." He paused for breath, and continued. "Believe me, I think that it's entirely unfair to you that you can't go. You should be able to fight by Joel, especially if it is his last battle, but I don't make the decisions, and I feel that you won't be able to sway anyone in this matter. The best thing you can do now is pray, and hope he'll come back. That being said," He reached his hand across the table, "I wish you the best of luck, Joel. I hope you make it back okay."

Joel shook his hand, and then everyone sat in silence.

Ellie blinked back tears. "Delsin, I think that's the most you've ever said in like, ever."

He shrugged.

"When do you leave?" Ellie asked.  
"The attack is early tomorrow. The idea is to catch them sleeping. You guys did bring back a lot of supplies, that'll help." Joel was trying to stay upbeat, but no one bought it. After more silence, Ellie headed upstairs, trying not to cry.

Delsin looked at Joel, and blinked a couple of times. "Do you have to go?"

"Yes."

Deslin asked, matter-of-factly, "Who's gonna take care of us if you die?"

"Tommy, or someone-"

"I think we'd live by ourselves. I might even leave. Let's be honest, you and Ellie are the only two reasons I'm here right now. Also, I think if you were to die, she'd blame Tommy for sending you out to fight." Delsin sighed, because he was feeling logical, which was his way of shutting down emotions. "We'd leave because Ellie wouldn't want to stay, and I'd go where she goes."

Joel nodded. "Look, if I could stay-"

"Don't tell me that, tell her." He got up, washed his plate, and climbed the stairs. "Tell her."

"I'm pretty sure she already knows-"

"It helps to hear it, sometimes." Delsin finished walking to his room, and shut the door. He slipped his headphones on and lost himself in the music. _How long have I been here, a few days? Seems like an eternity. _He'd gotten used to hot showers, Joel cooking, waking up and seeing Ellie every day, not having to worry about food or being attacked ((for the most part)), and just being able to relax. As he pondered what Joel's death might mean, his ears tuned into the song.

_You better lose yourself in the music, the moment_

_You own it, you better never let it go_

_You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow_

_This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo_

_You better lose yourself in the music, the moment_

_You own it, you better never let it go_

_You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow_

_This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo_

_Isn't that what it's about?_ He thought. _You're not just losing Joel, you're losing the moments. The time you spend with him. You'll never be able to make new memories, never be able to talk to him, and have him answers. You can't go to him for advice, you can't cry on his shoulder, you can't celebrate with him. He'll be gone, and He'll leave a huge space. There will never be another Joel._ He sighed, and listened to the music, for more inspiration. None came to him, it was just an endless jumble of words being processed by his brain, a brain that couldn't see a way out of the situation that he was currently in. Then, the song ended, and he got the inspiration he was looking for.

_You can do anything you set your mind to, man._

Delsin nodded in silent agreement. _I'm going to take care of Ellie, whether he comes back or not. I'm going to take care of her, starting now._ He took off his headphones, left his room, and nodded to Joel, who was just leaving Ellie's room. he wondered what they had talked about, but didn't pry. He instead knocked on the door. ((Finally, someone in my fic knocks before entering.))

"Go away."

"Hell the Fuck no." He opened the door, and saw Ellie curled up on her bed, again. Wordlessly, he crawled in with her, wincing as he realized he forgot to take his meds, and wrapped her in the biggest, warmest, most reassuring hug he could imagine. She rolled around to face him, and hugged him back, while silently sobbing into his shoulder. They fell asleep like that, locked in a loving embrace, fueled by the need for comfort in the sea of sorrows.

_You know, _Ellie thought, sadly, before she slept. _I wish I could just run from my problems._

((Jesus Cristo, You guys.

One thousand views In half a week. That's 285.714 views per day. That may not seem like much to some people, but It's a lot to me. Thanks.

But, I digress. I need help from you guys. Does Joel live or die? I've got two scenarios, and both are entirely possible, so I want you guys to decide. Does he live, or die? Leave a review or Pm me. Joel's life is in your hands. After about two days, in which I'll release probably one filler chapter, I'll tally up the votes from all sources and we'll see what happens.

~Zeta))


	11. Chapter 11 ((Have some subpar filler))

**Chapter 12**

((I'm not even gonna lie, this is some pure filler while I wait to see if Joel lives or dies.))

_**About a Day ago**_

"Joel!"

Joel looked up, as Delsin came downstairs, one earbud in, and one hanging. "What's a Rave?"

Joel frowned, slightly. "Well, it's when a lot of people get together and dance to electronic music." He decided to leave out the part about the drugs, for Delsin's sake.

"So why isn't it just called a dance?"

"Because that cannot be considered dancing." Joel wrinkled his eyes.

"What can, then?" Ellie flopped onto a chair. "You can't call what you did dancing."

"That was an art form, young lady." ((So I just realized Joel is only forty-four… So he could have grown up in the 60's, right? If you can math, get on that.))

"That was an abomination and a crime against humanity, namely my eyes," Ellie teased.

"It is an art, young lady."  
"My ass," Delsin interjected.

"Excuse me? Like you can dance."

Delsin gave a dramatic laugh, "I can dance better than you!" He noticed a can of spraypaint sitting on the table. He leaned over and grabbed it. "But for right now I'll settle for this." He sprinted upstairs and slammed his door. From inside, you could hear him shake the can and the hissing of paint flowing from the nozzle.

"Is he putting graffiti on my wall?" Joel rolled his eyes. "Some days I don't know what to do with you two."  
"You're just jealous because we're the cool ones." Ellie stuck out her tongue, then rushed up the stairs to see what Delsin was spraying. When she tried the door, however, it was locked. "Come on! Open up!"

"No, I'm not done with my masterpiece." He shook the can again, and continued spraying. "Joel, why do you even have spraypaint?"

Joel had made it up the stairs in time to hear. "I was painting the cars with it. Don't use it all."

"I won't." He stepped back, looked at it, and smiled, then threw the door open. Painted in bold, black strokes that looked like someone had used a calligraphy brush was a quote:

_You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays._

"I heard it in one of my songs." Delsin tossed Joel the can. "Here you go."  
Joel nodded, and put the can in his pocket. "That's nice. Now paint over it."

"Aww, come on!"

Joel laughed. "You can keep it, if you want to that badly."

"Yessssssssss"

"What does it mean?"

"It means that sometimes, you have to do something bad to remember what good is," Delsin explained.

"Laaame."

"Shut up."

((Hey guys. So far, it's not really looking good for Joel. I've got about three votes he dies, and one that he lives. Oh well, it's not like him dying would scar Ellie for life. ((Not to mention be difficult for me to write)) Just sayin.  
~Zeta))


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Joel is Kill

((Here it is, Guys. The chapter you've all been waiting for.))

Delsin woke up really late. It was twelve in the afternoon, and he blinked sleepily, yawning and stretching.

Ellie groaned, "Five more minutes." She snuggled closer into Delsin's chest and wrapped her arms tighter.

"Ellie, get up." He shook her gently. "Joel is leaving."  
"He's already gooone," She complained. "Just let me sleep."

"No, come on. We should get up, and eat breakfast, and things."

"Fuck that, I wanna sleep."

"No, we need to-"

Ellie shut him up by crushing her lips against his, taking Delsin by surprise. "Now shut up and let me sleep!" She nodded off, still in his arms.

Delsin shrugged her off slowly, and left, to go cook some breakfast. He made bacon, eggs, and pancakes, with some difficulty. "Never made pancakes before," he muttered. "But they look alright, I guess." He slipped the food onto two plates, and carried them upstairs. He backed into the door, and sat on the bed next to Ellie. "Wake up, I made breakfast."

"You did not." She sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "You did, thanks." She groped for her plate, half blindly grabbing it, and used the fork to shovel food into her mouth.

Delsin ate slowly, relishing each bite. _I'm one hell of a cook. _

Mere minutes later, they had both finished their breakfasts. "I'm stuffed," Ellie complained, rubbing her stomach.

"You shouldn't have eaten so much."

"But I didn't want to waste all that food!" She groaned, and rolled over, wrapping herself in Delsin.

"We have refrigerators."

The neighbors woke up to the sound of Ellie's facepalm.

Bullets whizzed by Joel's head. S_o much for the sneak attack, huh? _Some idiot had bungled it and gotten spotted by the sentries. _Well, damn._ He fired and ran, trying to control his shots, and heard cries of dismay as he did so. He smiled to himself as he ran, and systematically began to remove all the bandits in his line of fire. Swivelling, ducking and rolling, he was able to evade the little messengers of death which flew at him. Shouts came from deeper inside the camp, where he knew the wall of trucks was mowing down every bandit who dared to show their face. _All in all, this didn't go too badly._ He stopped his musings to place a bullet in the brain of a bandit who was begging for mercy. _Too late for that, buddy. You woke the sleeping dragon._ It was a bad move, considering that the town had expanded to at least 300 people. As Joel, ran through the camp, he reconnected with his squad.

"Joel!" A militia member ran over, and began shooting directly behind him. "We've got orders to head to the center of camp! We're closing in!"

Joel nodded, and lead the squad in a valorous charge, sweeping tents and killing bandits, blowing up trucks and burning supplies. As they spread death and destruction, Joel began to think about the future of the town. _It can hold 2,500, so we're nowhere near capacity._ As he wondered if they would ever fully rebuild, he failed to hear the bandit sneak up behind him and pull the trigger of her .357 revolver, which fired, and tore a hole in Joel's back. Of course, the squad assigned to Joel gunned her down, but they couldn't stop a bullet. Joel was sinking to his knees, vision starting to cloud. As he collapsed, he couldn't help but think, over and over again: _I'm sorry, Ellie. I'm so, so sorry._ He was vaguely aware of being lifted up, and carried into the bed of a truck. People were shouting at him, but he couldn't hear them. It was like he had been at the epicenter of an explosion. He kept blacking out and waking up, in cycles that seemed to grow longer and longer. He barely heard the words "Infected" and "Horde." He tried to speak and found he could not, his throat muscles constricted and not under his control. Someone saw him reach out, and took his hand, gently placing it back down, then turning and screaming at the driver. _It's almost like watching a silent film,_ Joel noted. _One that's moving in slow motion._ his eyes began to close, and he found he couldn't keep them open. _Ellie…_

Ellie and Delsin were having a water-gun fight, laughing like maniacs and running around the front lawn 

"I got you, motherfucker!" Ellie blasted water at Delsin, who rolled out of the way.

"In your dreams, you can't shoot to save your life." A squirt of water from his gun got Ellie in the face, and while she was choking/laughing, he ran up and emptied the entire contents of his super soaker on her. "I win."

"I'm hardly soaked!" She protested, as she wrung out her hair.

A runner ((messenger)) ran up to their house, breathless. "It's Joel, he's been shot."

Delsin froze, and Ellie's super soaker clattered to the ground. Without a word, they both took off, towards the hospital.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

((The much anticipated chapter))

Joel is Cadaverific

Ellie beat Delsin to the hospital, but found her path blocked by an orderly.

"I'm sorry you can't go past here-"

Ellie swung her fist into the unfortunate nurse's face, knocking him back and continuing to sprint down the hall. Delsin just leaped over the crumpled figure, and continued running.

"Come on Joel, don't die on me." Tears fell from Ellie's face, unbidden. "Don't you fucking dare." She scanned the rooms, looking and trying to decide where to go.

Delsin skidded to a stop, and looked around. "We've gotta split." The hallways seemed to go forever in two directions.

"Okay, okay…" Ellie tried to think, but her emotions overwhelmed her, and she took off running, to the right.

Delsin sprinted to the left, and began peeking in various rooms.

Ellie opened door after door, finding people in all sorts of conditions, But no Joel. Where is he? Why does this always happen to me?! She punted a trashcan across an empty room, and continued searching.

Delsin yanked open a door, only to see surgeons at work on what was left of Joel's back. Slamming the door shut, he vomited all over the floor, retching up his guts. I can't believe… He had seen what was left of Joel's back and lower intestines. The surgeons were cloaked in blood and disgusting bits of human flesh. Delsin dry heaved, and retched again, this time in a conveniently located trashcan. Ellie, gotta tell Ellie… He staggered to his feet, and took off in the opposite direction, racing down the hall and trying to purge his memory of what he'd seen.

Ellie heard footsteps coming in her direction, and whirled around, lashing out with a quick jab which delsin narrowly avoided.

"D, what the hell?! Did you find him-"

Delsin nodded, and pointed, wordlessly, his face drawn and pale.

"Is it bad?" Ellie's vision began to blur but she shook her head. Gotta stay focused on Joel.

He nodded again, and dry heaved, falling to the floor.

Ellie caught him by his elbow, and hauled him up. "Take me, now."

"Yeah. Room 534." He didn't argue, just started running down the hall. But then they were cut off by nurses and orderlies, who grabbed them both, and began to drag them away.

Ellie screamed and lashed out in every direction, but it seemed futile. "JOEL! JOEL! JOEL!" She bit the person who was dragging her, and felt the arm give way. As she spilled onto the floor, she forced herself to her feet and took off again.

Delsin held off the staff as long as he could but they overpowered him easily. As he was dragged away, he thought to himself, I hope I bought her enough time.

The surgical team was just cleaning up when Ellie burst in the door. Before she could do anything stupid, a surgeon held up a hand. "He's stabilized, for now. But you need to leave. Just touching him could destabilize and possibly kill him."

"Hell no! I'm not leaving!"

To his credit, the surgeon stayed calm. "Look, you're bringing in foreign contaminants and we can't afford to use all our antibiotics on one person."

"Then give me one of those mask things and I'll be fine!"

The surgeon began to say something, then relented. "You come with me, clean up, and you've got five minutes. No more than that."

"Fine, hurry the hell up."

He led Ellie to the prep station, and showed her the proper techniques to prepare for surgery, including putting on the scrubs and washing your arms all the way to the shoulders. "Five minutes, and not touching," He warned, as he closed the door.

As much as she hated it, Ellie set her watch timer. She just sat there, seconds ticking by, unsure of what to do, or what to say. Joel's chest rose and fell, breathing steadily but shallow.

"Joel… I'm sorry. I should have been there for you." Ellie sniffed. "But I'll never fucking forgive you if you don't get better, you hear me?! You're going to get better, or I'll kill you myself!"

Joel's index finger on his right hand twitched. If he had even been slightly conscious, he would have laughed, and pointed out that you can't kill someone if they're already dead. Unless they came back as Infected.

Ellie just started sobbing, small, defeated sobs. Her watched beeped, and she wiped her eyes. "Bye, Joel. Get better." As she exited, she gave Joel one last look, then headed down the hallway, tossing her scrubs into the designated container.

Delsin sat in the waiting room, head in his hands. If he dies… I don't know what we'll do. I don't know if Ellie could live through that…

Ellie slumped into a chair next to him. "He's alive for now, but it's not looking good."

"I know, I saw it."

"Why do the worst things happen to us?"

Delsin didn't have an answer, so they just sat there, under the harsh neon lighting. Then, suddenly, Delsin began to sing.

The worst things in life come free to us

Because we're just under the upper hand,

'Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass

Hardly anything there for you to see

For you to see

Ellie shook her head and pulled her knees to her chest. "That just made me sadder."

"Yeah, me too."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Make me feel ((Until the pain don't matter))

Ellie had no idea how long she had just sat there, in a cold plastic chair. At some point she had fallen asleep, and Delsin ((she assumed)) had carried her home. She was in her bed now, staring up at the ceiling. _This is totally unfair._ She let out a sigh, and chewed on her shirt. _Please be okay, Joel._ Eventually, she mustered the will to drag herself out of bed.

Delsin, for once, slept in way past Ellie, waking up a few hours after her. He dragged himself out of bed. _I hope Ellie's alright._ He was worried she might do something stupid to deal with her grief. Reaching for an orange container, he took out two pills and popped them. _My ribs are killing me._ Swallowing the pills, he headed down, still in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes as he fell onto the couch next to Ellie, resting his head in her lap. "Hey."

"Hey." They just sat there for a little. "So, what do we do today?"

Delsin shook his head, "I don't know. Wait, I guess. Maybe eat and drink. Oh, and breathing. we can't forget to breathe."

Despite the grave situation, Ellie managed a half-smile. "Yeah, don't wanna forget that." She inhaled deeply, then let it out in a sad sigh. "I'm really worried, and it's fucking me up."

"It's messing me up too. And I'm sure pretty much everyone else is worried sick."

"But everyone else hasn't been through as much as Joel and I have."

"I didn't mean that… I just was trying to show you that you're not alone in this. We all want him to get better, trust me." He stared up into her brown eyes, his pale blue ones full of emotion. Sitting up, he enveloped her in a hug. "I'm sorry."

Ellie accepted the hug, and hugged back, tears in her eyes.

Delsin placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, and wiped away her tears.

((heads up, it's going to get explicit. So uh, you can skip this bit if you want to))

Ellie was almost surprised, and she froze up for a moment. Then she kissed back, leaning on top of Delsin and pushing him back onto the couch. I need this. She needed something to distract her from all her troubles, and since Delsin was hiding his pills, this was it. As they kissed, she began to shed her clothing. As she tossed her shirt away, she stopped for a moment, indecisive. Then she undid her bra straps, and tossed the bra away. It landed on the coffee table, and that was that.

Delsin stared at her bare chest, noticing that her nippes were already stiffening in the air. "Ellie, are you… Okay with this?'

"Duh, idiot. I'm the one who took it off." _He can be a fucking idiot sometimes._

Carefully, Delsin reached up and placed his hands on her breasts, and squeezed them, gently.

Ellie bit her lip to hold back a moan as Delsin began playing with them, gently moving them around and rubbing her nipples between his thumbs.

Delsin leaned forward, and Ellie could feel his hot breath on her bare skin. Then, he leaned forward and began to suckle, his tongue moving in circles around her nipple. She let out a moan, "Delsin."

Too busy to answer, he continued to suck, toying with her right breast to keep her aroused. He switched back and forth, from breast to breast, and Ellie loved every second of it. This is what I needed. This is- She lost her train of thought as Delsin separated from her chest and kissed her on the lips once again, his tongue pushing past her lips and into her mouth, and running over hers. She kissed back, trying to retain control and failing, and loving this even more. Every stroke, every caress, every deep kiss. She loved it, and never wanted him to stop.

Eventually, it wound down, and they just laid there, on the couch. At some point, Ellie got up to put her clothes back on, but returned to Delsin's comforting embrace. They were perfectly content to lie there, forgetting the world.

"I'm bored."

"Really?" Delsin raised an eyebrow. "I can think of something-"

"No, but I'm trying to act normal." Ellie ran a hand through her hair. "Duh."

"We could go visit the hospital again."

"Maybe later, I'm not ready to see him like that again." Ellie held back a sob. "Maybe later."

Delsin nodded, and then scratched the back of his head. "Ellie?"

"Yeah?"

"Your pants are soaked."

The slap Delsin received would have dealt hp damage over time if he were in a game.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
Meh, Let's end this.

Everyone died when a nuke hit the town.

Btw this is a troll chapter to buy me time while I write the next one.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Just kidding

Now that they were done making out, ((Which was a really lame excuse on my part to write some smut)) Delsin wondered if they should go see Joel again. ((Honestly, still on the fence about killing him.)) _Maybe we should go see him. Really, we might need to see him. What if he wakes up and we're not there? It's a new day, after all._ They had fallen asleep together, surprise, surprise. ((Wow, they do a lot of sleeping. I'm tempted to have them leave town just for the sake of survival or something to write about)). He got up, trying not to jostle Ellie, and headed upstairs to shower. _I probably smell awful._ He browsed the cabinet of soaps, trying to decide which smelled manlier. He settled on old spice, ((Always a safe bet. I feel like I'd miss that in a Zombie apocalypse)) and headed to the shower. He hummed a song in the shower as he scrubbed, and decidedly began to feel good about today. ((Wait, didn't I nuke the town or something? Oh yeah, that was a troll chapter while I wrote this one. Lol you guys must be mad.)) _I feel like I'm on top of the world, for some reason. My ribs don't even hurt today._ He turned off the water, and looked in the mirror as he dried off. _Well, that dumb bite still looks the same. But other than that I'm good, I think._ He finished, and crept to his room, putting on fresh clothes once inside. _Yeah, I just feel good about today. Maybe everything will start going right._ ((You wish, dude. I'm about to kill Joel, and maybe have infected flood the town.))

Ellie noticed at some point that Delsin had left, and she stretched, luxuriously. _How in the hell is he so great at leaving without waking me up? Well, screw it. I'm not doing anything today, except maybe go see Joel._ She had decidedly calmed down since yesterday, and just wanted to laze around today. _He can cook me breakfast again, he's good at that. And speaking of things he's good at…_ She blinked slowly, recalling last night. _I'm a little glad Joel was in the hospital for that part. _

_I wonder if she's still asleep? _Delsin had his iPod on and his headphones in, listening to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

_Okay, where is he? He's usually cooking breakfast by now._ Ellie peeked up over the couch, but saw no signs of activity in the kitchen. _He'd better not make me go up there._

Delsin hummed along to the song and began spray-painting his wall again.

_I'll give it five more minutes._ Five minutes came and went, and Ellie groaned. _Now I have to get up. Delsin, I'd kill you if you didn't make such great breakfasts._ She tossed herself off the couch, and more or less crawled up the stairs. She reached his door and pounded on it. "Get out here!"

Delsin couldn't hear her over the sound of _Mammoth_ pulsing in his ears.

Ellie hauled herself to her feet, and threw his door open. "COME MAKE ME BREAKFAST!"

Delsin whipped around and accidentally covered Ellie in red paint. "Whoops."

"If you don't get downstairs and make me some breakfast it's not going to be just paint staining this shirt." She glared at him, and Delsin ran downstairs as fast as he could to throw breakfast together. Then she glanced down at her shirt, and sighed. _Now I have to shower, ugh. Doing things,_ She complained to herself, as she pulled clean clothes out of her dresser. _I have to do things because of him. He's so high maintenance. _She entered the shower, making sure to lock it. _Eh, it's nothing he hasn't seen before at this point, but still. It smells like… old spice?_ She sniffed, and broke into a grin. _Oh, Joel's gonna kill him. That was one of our last bottles. _She began washing with her own shampoo, wincing when she rubbed her chest. ((Would she use a more feminine shampoo, or what? Idk I'll leave it up to you guys and your twisted imaginations as to what she smells like.)) _Yeesh, I'm still a little sensitive. _She bit her lip as she thought about last night again. _But it was worth it, right? Yeah, it was._

_Omelettes and bacon and pancakes oh my. _ Delsin looked at the feast he had prepared in about thirty minutes. _Is she still showering? Wasn't there a ten minute rule or something?_ ((Yeah, I think there was/is. Looks like you got gypped, pal.)) He leaned on the stove.

_There's no way it takes that long to get clean, at all._

_Well, that was refreshing. I feel like I could kick some ass._ Ellie dried off, examining herself in the mirror. _Well, it looks like I've got a few "bruises" on my neck, and no one's gonna see the rest of me, so… I'll be fine._ She tugged on her clothes and headed downstairs again, feeling a lot better. "Hey, D. Thanks for cooking breakfast."

"You're the one who threatened me with death." He handed her a plate, and she drenched everything in syrup.

"It was a joke, I was joking." She waved a fork loaded with pancake at him. "You do know what humor is, right?"

"I wrote the book, Fire-girl." He looked appalled by the generous helping of syrup which Ellie applied to her bacon. "Are we gonna visit Joel today?"

"Yeah, why? Got something better to do?" She had inhaled the pancakes and started on the Omlette.

"I didn't mean it like that, Ellie."

"Just shut the hell up and eat your damn breakfast."

"Screw you."

"You wish."

"B-cup."

"I'm feeding you to the Clickers."

((Oh, I should Explain. I'm facing a bit of writer's block here...

What should happen next? You guys tell me.

Um… I've also got a lot going on, so i don't have much time to write.

Thanks for the views and sorry about the troll chapter [not really]

~Zeta))


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

This is Chapter 17, right? ((Oh, I'm gonna wind this story down soon. This might even be the last chapter.))

"We're going to have to operate again. But, the bullet wound has gotten infected, surprise surprise." The doctor, who's name was Sean, rubbed his forehead. "And we need to get rid of the infection before we can operate. And we don't have the necessary medicine to cure the infection." He sat down. "He's going to die if can't get the medicine."

"So you want us to go look for it." Ellie nodded, "We'll do it. What are we looking for?"

"You're looking for this." The doctor showed them an empty bottle. "Veridex. It's a potent antibiotic, and it should do the trick."

"Okay." Ellie studied the bottle, and committed it to memory. "Where are we going?"

"You've already been to Lakeshore. We need you to go back and search the hospital. It's unlikely you'll find anything, but you've got to try."

"Why us? Why not send more?" They looked at Delsin like they had just noticed he was there.

"Because the rest of our men are guarding the walls. We might be attacked. i wouldn't be asking you to do this if it wasn't so urgent." Sean sighed again. "You don't have to go-"

"We're going. Right, Del?" Ellie glanced at him, and Delsin knew there was no way out of this. _Not that I don't want to help Joel, but this seems sort of dangerous. Well, it was dangerous last time, so I guess it won't matter. _"Yeah, we're going."

"Alright, take the bottle with you. It'll help you identify the medicine. Good luck." Sean stood up and left the two teens alone.

"Del, let's get our stuff and go."

"I thought I was D?"

"Del sounds better." Ellie made her way out of the hospital, "Meet me at the stables with our stuff!" She ran off, and Delsin walked quickly home. Once there, he grabbed everything they might have needed, which was basically bullets on bullets. _You can never have enough of those._ He rushed to the stables to find that Ellie had already saddled Buttercup. "Let's go!"

Delsin tossed her her pack and hopped up onto the horse, and they set off at a breakneck pace, only slowing as they waited for the gates to open. The reached Lakeshore in what probably was record time, and quickly tied buttercup in a relatively safe place.

"Let's go, we don't have time for subtle." Ellie tightened the straps on her pack and made to run off, but Delsin stopped her.

"Ellie, just because Joel's sick doesn't mean we should get ourselves killed. If we die then we can't help him. Now, let's get onto the roofs and to the hospital."

"Fine." She pushed past him and kicked open a door.

Sighing, Delsin followed her.

Minutes later, the were once again hopping across rooftops.

"Ellie, say something."

"Hurry up." She backed up, and took a running leap to the next roof."

"Seriously, Ellie." Delsin landed next to her. "You can't just shut down. At least be in the moment, here. Actually, I _need _you in the moment. There's infected everywhere, and we haven't even seen the hospital yet."

"I am in the moment. Now hurry up. The faster we get there, the faster we get back." She jumped again without waiting for a response.

Delsin shook his head, and followed. "Do you even have a plan?"

"Get in, get the medicine, get out. That's my plan. Look, there's the sign." She pointed to a sign that read _Lakeshore General_.

"Yeah. And that hospital's huge. Do you know how many infected are probably in there?"

She whirled to face him, her emerald eyes blazing. "Are you saying we should just go back?!"

"I'm saying we need to be careful! We can make it, but we can't just rush in with our guns blazing." He placed his hands on her shoulder, and looked into her eyes. "Got it?"

She looked down. "Yeah, okay, whatever."

"Great. Now, let's actually get inside the building."

"The pharmacy is on floor… four. And it's in room four-oh-one." Ellie whispered. "Got that?"

"Yeah. Let's move, a clicker's heading down the hall." The two padded softly in the opposite direction, then headed onto the stairs. Delsin pushed open the metal door, and shut it behind them, gently. "Okay. So we're on the first floor, let's go four flights up." They did so in silence, both with their respective melee weapons in hand. Delsin put his ear to the third door they came across, and listened. "I can't hear anything. Let's be super careful."

"Duh." Ellie pushed open the door, turned the corner, and almost ran right into a Clicker. Delsin grabbed the strap of her backpack and pulled her back. The Clicker turned, screeched, and continued down the hall.

"That was a close one." Ellie shook her head. "Get in the game, get in the game."

"And the pharmacy's in the opposite direction."

"How do you know?"

"Um, there's a map." Delsin hooked a thumb over his shoulder, and Ellie facepalmed.

"Right. Moving on." They broke into a crouch-run, and Delsin axed a Lurker right before they got into the pharmacy. After Delsin closed the door behind them, and Ellie jammed a chair under it, they began to explore.

"Veridex, Veridex…" Ellie dropped her pack and began picking up different bottles, and carefully reading the labels.

"Let's look for antibiotics first."

"How do I know which is which?"

"Read the description on the bottle."

It was a good ten minutes before they found the section they were looking for. Suddenly, Ellie found it. She held up the bottle and gave a silent whoop. "I found some! Wait…" She shook the bottle. "Empty." Her face fell.  
"It's alright, keep looking-"

"It's the only damn bottle in this fucking shithole!" She tossed the bottle across the room, and kicked her pack, which caused her rifle to skitter across the floor, slam into a wall, and fire off three rounds. Ellie slowly brought her eyes around to meet Delsin's. There were no back exits or windows in the room, and the haunting screams and pounding on the door had already begun. The poor wooden chair wasn't up to the stress, and wouldn't hold for very long.

Ellie groaned. "We're trapped." As she sunk to the ground, she noticed something. She reached under the shelf and pulled out a bottle of Veridex. When she shook it, She heard the pill rattle around, and she almost cried. "If only I hadn't gotten so pissed, we wouldn't be screwed right now."

Delsin sat down next to her. "Well, we've got three options. Bullet to the head is number one. Pop pills and die is number two. I personally vote for number three."

"Which is what?"

"Die with our guns blazing and take as many of these fuckers with us as we can, I guess." He shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. "Look, we've got like five minutes. We can take our time."

Ellie sighed. "I'm guessing there is no option four."

"If this place had a window or another exit there'd be an option four. Option four would be run, but we can't do that right now. Now, let's think about it." He cocked his rifle and aimed down the sights. "Take your time."

Ellie sighed. "I think the worst part about this is that we didn't get to save Joel, you know?"

Delsin nodded in gloomy agreement. "Yeah, we didn't get to save him. That at least would have been nice."

"We can't die from getting bit, so would that mean they eat us alive?" Ellie shivered, and considered options one and two.

"Well, we could sort of combine options two and three. We could pop enough pills to the point where we won't feel anything." Delsin chewed on his shirt.

The chair began to splinter, and the rate of the pounding increased.

"I like that option best. What's that, option five?" She grinned weakly, and punched Delsin in the shoulder. "Let's do that." She went across the room and picked up her rifle, then came back. "We'd better have something stronger than tylenol."

"We've got this. It's stronger than the stuff I use for my ribs." He held out bottle. "Take two… I think."

Ellie twisted open her water bottle. "Cheers."

"Lame." Delin swallowed his pills, losing feeling almost immediately. "I think that did it."

"Yeah. I think so."

The chair began cracking, and was at the point of falling apart.

"Hey Delsin?"

"Yeah, Ellie?"

She kissed him. "I love you."

"Me too. I love you, I mean, not love me. I mean, I guess I like me-"

She shoved him, "Shut up already and aim." She pointed her rifle at the door right as the chair exploded into fragments and the Infected came pouring in. She pulled the trigger, and heard her rifle spring to life, the muzzle flashing orange. Delsin was experiencing much of the same thing. Bodies began to pile in the doorway, and they ran out of ammo. She moved to grab her pistol, and tossed Delsin his, There was almost no time to do that and certainly no time to reload. They opened fire as soon as then next infected broke through the wall of bodies. When the ammo for the pistols ran out, and the Infected were trying to push through another body wall, Ellie dropped her pistol and put her hand in Delsin's. "What comes next?" She wiped her eyes and stared ahead, waiting for him to answer.

he shrugged, "Hell if I know. But I'll tell you what. If we don't like it, we can kick its ass."

She laughed, despite the situation, then grew serious. "Will you find me?"

"No shit, sherlock. Of course I'll find you. No matter what." He squeezed her hand, and planted a kiss on her lips. "Now, you can close your eyes if you want."

She wrapped him in a hug, pushing her face into his chest, and he hugged back. The first clicker tore through the wall and rushed right at them, screaming.

Ellie sobbed. "Bye, Delsin."

"Bye, Ellie." They were tackled onto the floor, and the last thing either one of them remembered was being in each other's arms.

((Thanks for all the support on this one guys! It means a lot to me. Thanks again, you guys are great! We got over 3700 views on my first story, hell yeah! Sorry I had to kill them, though. Better luck next game.

~Zeta))


	18. Bonus

**Ten Years Later**

Soldiers swept the hospital, clearing each floor of the abominations. It was part of Operation Crowning Glory, the retaking of America. One soldier, Private McGrath, noted the pile of bodies at the pharmacy, all skeletons now. "Eagle Bravo, we've got a large pile of skeletons here at the front door to the pharmacy."

"Roger that, McGrath. Proceed with caution."

He did so, sweeping the room with his M16. When he reached the back, and went past the little swing door into the back room, his heart stopped, and his throat closed up. "Two skeletons, Eagle Bravo."

"Rodger. Proceed with mission-"

"They're just two kids. Two kids. They died hand in hand, Eagle Bravo." McGrath held back a tear. "What do you want me to do?"

Silence filled the radio, then he received a reply. "Move them without damaging the remains, if you can. We're burying them in a proper grave."

"Yes sir."

"Private? Did they kill all the infected at the door?"

"Yes, Eagle Bravo."

There was silence again, then another reply. "We're going to award them the Purple Heart, posthumously of course."

"Yes, sir." McGrath called for a stretcher, and gently moved the skeletons onto it. he shook his head as it was wheeled away. _They were just kids. Whatever they died for, I hope it was worth it._ He sniffed as he walked away.

At sunset, the troops were gathered in front of one large, and the general rose to speak.

"Who are they? We may never know. But they died, here, in this hospital. They died fighting. They died fighting for this." He held up an orange plastic bottle, and it shone in the sunlight. "They died fighting for someone. Someone needed this, and they died fighting for it. How do i know this? It was in the girl's pocket."

The assembly got even quieter, troops standing in rows, not making a sound.

"The doctors tell me that the girl was from age thirteen to fifteen, and the boy age fourteen to sixteen. They were no more than kids, raised in a world that demanded too much from them. But they rose to the challenge. They fought. The fought and died for someone, be it for each other or someone they left behind. And I expect the same from each and every one of you." He paused, and looked directly at the soldiers. "You are not fighting and dying for your country. You're not fighting and dying for a place to live, for some medicine or some weapons. You're fighting for the people back home. The wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, acquaintances, even the person who you had coffee with once. You're fighting for the person next to you, behind you, and in front of you. You fight for each other, and if the time comes, and you die, at least you died fighting for _something._" He stopped, and paused as soldiers in dress uniform came out and draped a flag onto the coffin. "They died as soldiers should. They'll get a soldier's burial, and a twenty-one gun salute. And for the bravery shown in combat, and the three hundred and six infected killed, they are awarded the purple heart." He affixed a heart to each of the flags. "May they rest in peace."

The general left the podium, and it was carried away. he turned back at the last second, before the salute, and addressed the crowd one last time.

"You may notice that there's only one coffin. They were found holding each other. Far be it from me to separate them, and damn any who would try." He left, heading back to the mobile base of operations.

The coffins were lowered, after the guns were fired to honor the fallen. And as the dirt began to be shoveled in, for those bothered to look, the last things they would have seen were the twin purple hearts, glowing and glinting in the fading light.


	19. This is essentially a poll

Do you want an Alternate ending to the story? This poll is about my story, Run. It's based off The Last of Us. Read it here: /s/10141795/1/Run-The-Last-of-Us 


	20. Chapter 20

**Alternate ending**

So what is this, Chapter 20?

((For fuck's sake you guys. I'll write a goddamn alternate ending already. Fuck.))

Ellie shoved the bottle in her pocket, "Let's get the hell out of here."  
"Don't have to tell me twice." Delsin neatly axed a Lurker that stumbled in the door. "This place is crawling with infected. I'm starting to get sick of breathing spores."

Ellie made a face, "I know, It tastes funny after a while."

"Man, I really wish we could clear this place out." They snuck up and down stairways, around corners and down halls.

"Even I'm not that stupid," Ellie replied, "We'd get overrun, seriously. Clicker on the left."

"I see it. I think we can sneak by, don't you?" Without waiting for Ellie to answers, Delsin ran right behind the Clicker and towards The huge double doors.

"Fuckin' showoff." Ellie muttered as she followed after him, albeit in a crouch walk. Delsin grinned and pushed open the double doors, slowly to avoid creaking. They made it out in one piece, thankfully. It would have been a terrible shame if they died in a _**perfectly valid**_ _**ending**_. Delsin inhaled the fresh air thankfully. "I felt like I might suffocate in there."

"Then wear a gas mask next time, you pussy." Ellie shoved him and he laughed, shoving back.

"Admit it, If I'd died in there you'd miss me."

"Hell no, I've got better things to do then miss a loser like you." As she said it, her eyes twinkled and eventually she broke into a smile. "Alright, I'd miss you. I'd miss you a lot. So don't you dare die on me, Delsin."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Now let's hurry up and get back to Joel." He kissed her, quickly, and took of at a breakneck pace, leaving Ellie to chase him.

"Hey, wait up asshole!" She dashed after him, "If I catch you-"

He started running backwards, and grinned. "You won't." Turning around, he sped up and left Ellie in the dust. Panting, she gave chase, but it was no use.

"I'm gonna kill you," She told him, ten minutes later when she reached the house where they tied up Buttercup.

"No you're not." He stroked Buttercup's mane, and fed her some sugar he'd picked up. "You'd miss out on all the amazing sex we haven't had yet."

Ellie turned beet-red, and kicked him in the shins. "Who said we'll be having any? After the stunt you just pulled, you're in the doghouse buddy."

"If you're into that, sure." Delsin pulled himself onto the saddle and offered Ellie a hand. She batted it away, still redder than reddit, and climbed up herself. ((Question of the day: is reddit red?))

"And why do you get to drive?" She muttered.

"I can't drive a horse." He spurred Buttercup forward, and they were off. "So, Fire-girl, you're sure it's Veridex?"

Ellie smacked him on the back of the head. "Of course I'm sure." She looked down at the asphalt that was rushing beneath their feet. "Joel's counting on us."

"Sean we've got the drugs," Delsin announced as he pushed open the hospital door. Sean of course, wasn't there, so they spent the next five minutes searching for him.

"You got the Veridex? Good, good. We'll mix it with water and give it to him via IV." Sean took the bottle, and handled it reverently. "The infection will clear up in about a week, and then we can continue to operate. Hopefully we can get the last bits of metal and bone out."

"The fuck do you mean, hopefully?" Ellie demanded. "We got you the damn medicine and now you're telling us that you might not be able to fix him? Bullshit."

Sean sighed, "I say might because we don't have the technology to find every last shard. Even in the old days, if we did, we still might not have been able to remove them all. His body might resorb the bone eventually."

Ellie was about to deck the poor guy in the face, but Delsin stopped her. "Thanks, we'll let you get back to work." He dragged Ellie out of the office, "They're doing the best they can. Let it alone."

Ellie opened her mouth, then shut it. She stormed out of the hospital, nearly bowling over some dude on crutches.

"Sorry," Delsin apologized for her, helped the guy up, and went after Ellie. He found her in his room for a change, staring at the wall.

"What the hell is this?" She pointed.

"It's a yin yang falcon. The blue side represents good and the red side represents evil."

"Well it's fucking stupid." She sat down on his bed again.

Delsin sat next to her, "You're entitled to your own opinion." Ellie relented, and rolled over to look at him.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what? The art? Well, it's pretty simple."

"No," she shoved him, lightly. "How come you never get mad at me?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Well, every time I kill a zombie I imagine your face-"

"No, Idiot." She shoved him again, harder this time. "Tell the truth."

He sighed. "There's nothing to tell. I just remind myself that everyone gets angry and says things they don't mean, especially you. I mean, it's not fair that you have to put up with so much bullshit on a daily basis. I would have snapped and gone on a rampage if I were you. I figure sometimes it helps to verbally vent your frustrations, so I try to be calm and understanding."

Ellie laughed, "Okay, Gandhi. You're officially out of the doghouse."

"Well then let's get started-"

"Nope. I'm tired. If you wanna sleep, go sleep on the couch. I'm taking your room." She pushed him off the bed, "And yes, I'm too lazy to get up and move to mine. So shoo."

Delsin grinned and Picked Ellie up, receiving no small amount of punches, and carried her across the hall into her room, dropping her on the bed. "There. You didn't even have to move."

"You suck." She stuck out her tongue, then kicked off her shoes and crawled under the covers. After a few moments, she cracked an eye. "What?"

"Can I at least join you?"

"Ugh, fine. Get in here." She lifted the covers and Delsin eagerly slid in, taking off his shoes and his jacket and wrapping his arms around Ellie.

"Thanks."

"Whatever. Just don't wake me up." She rolled around to face him, "And I swear, if I even _think _I feel anything poking me I will break your nose."

"Mhm. Go to sleep, you're cranky." He kissed her gently, and then snuggled closer. Ellie gave up and did as he said.

((Well, I'm back, for christ's sake. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you bloody chavs.

Kidding, kidding. I really do hope you liked this chapter. It's not over yet, not by a long , and shout out to all my croatian readers. Fucking sweet, I've got international readership.))


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Don't try this at home

Delsin was purposely setting fires in the kitchen. He was flambeing things for Ellie, who was still sleeping. _I am the best damn cook in the history of ever._ He'd never met Wolfgang Puck, who at this point was probably writing a book on how to prepare humans for consumption. He filled the steak over and continued. If you'd looked through the window, you'd see something akin to a six-inch tongue of flame licking the air. Hopefully the kitchen was fireproof. Hopefully. At least they didn't have smoke alarms, which were deemed a general nuisance, a waste of resources, and devices that could possibly alert nearby Infected or bandits. I'll tell you what though, no one misses them. Back to Delsin who was dangerously close to scorch the paint that was peeling off the cabinets. He noticed and moved the pan, _Maybe I should repaint those. It'll cost a lot though. That brings up another good point; what's the currency system here?_ There didn't seem to be one, and he didn't have anything to barter for the paint._ I guess I'll just scrape it off or something. I don't think Joel wants his cabinets spraypainted red, blue, black or otherwise._ He heard Ellie tromping down the stair, and returned his attention to the food.

Ellie was sleepily rubbing her eyes as she made her way to the kitchen. When she got there, it took a full five seconds for her to process the fire. "DELSIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Cooking steak."

"IT'S NINE IN THE MORNING!" Ellie Grabbed Baking soda and tried to dump it in the pan, "YOU'RE GONNA BURN THE DAMN HOUSE DOWN!"

"No," He said, evading the baking soda, "I've got it under control."

"THAT IS NOT UNDER CONTROL! THAT'S YOU TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME!" She successfully dumped baking soda on the steak and the fire was put out. Delsin seemed sort of okay with it; "That was gonna be good steak though…"

"Good steak? GOOD STEAK?! IT CAN'T BE GOOD IF WE'RE TOO DEAD TO EAT IT!" Ellie punched him in the shoulder, "Please _think_ before you do things, Delsin." She looked at the very elegant and now powdery steak. "I appreciate the thought though." She pulled him into a hug, "But seriously. No more flaming death traps disguised as food."

"I'll try," he promised, setting the steak on the stove and hugging back.

"No, you _promise_ that you _won't_." She looked him in the eyes, "I'm serious."

"Fine. I do solemnly swear-"

"You have to say your name."

"I, Delsin Cooper Rowe," he raised his right hand, "Do solemnly swear that I will not flambe things ever again unless specifically instructed."

"Good." Ellie leaned forward and kissed him, gently. "Now make me breakfast."

"Oh no." He backed away with a grin, "You ruined my steak. You get cereal today."

"We don't even have cereal, genius." She crossed her arms, "Make me breakfast."

"Make yourself some oatmeal then. We have oats, water and milk, everything you'd need. Sugar's in the cabinet. I am going upstairs to eat the last of my beef jerky." He turned and left, leaving behind one very confused Ellie. _Since when does he not make me breakfast? And who eats beef jerky for breakfast? That's just gross._

Delsin had actually picked some apples from the tree outside his window, and was eating those. _Convenient._ _These actually taste really good with the salty beef jerky. I am a little thirsty though._ He shrugged, and reached for his canteen, which had some lukewarm water in it. He took a swig, frowned, and spat out his window, emptying the canteen into the tree. _That didn't taste good at all. Cold water would be better… But the tap's downstairs, and I don't want ellie to make me cook._ He suddenly reflected upon how just a few weeks ago, being forced to cook would have been a pleasure, and human company a luxury he didn't have. _Things become trivial pretty quickly._ He sighed and finished his apples before heading to the shower. _I smell like something died. Twice._ He grabbed the Old Spice and kicked the door shut behind him, stripping off the dirty clothes. _Hmm, I should probably do laundry soon. I'm running out of clothes, which is another thing I need. I've got like two pairs of pants and three shirts. Five pairs of socks and four pairs of underwear, gross._ He made a face and almost climbed into the shower with his clothes on. _Okay, that was stupid, even for me._ He pulled off his jacket, peeled off his socks, unbuckled his pants and tugged off his shirt. His underwear went flying and got hung up on the doorknob. He got in the shower, _again_, and turned the handles. Steaming water poured over his body, and he instantly relaxed.

Ellie was eating the most poorly prepared batch of oatmeal in her life when she heard the water turn on. _I can't believe him. He doesn't cook me breakfast and then he takes the shower first?_ She antagonistically began to devour her oatmeal. _You're in trouble now, buddy._

Delsin, meanwhile, was brushing his teeth. The toothpaste tasted awful, because it was a paste of baking soda, water and juiced mint leaves, which tinted it green. _It's better than having gross teeth._ And it really was. Cavities were seriously bad news in these times. If you rotted a tooth, the tooth came out. No fancy caps or fake teeth. He spat into the drain, and washed his brush off before putting it back in the cup.

Ellie had found his lockpicks and was trying to understand how to use them to get in the bathroom and splatter him with rotten tomatoes. It might be pointless, since he was showering anyway, but she was determined. _How do you work these goddamn things? Does this go in the lock? What about this? Do you put them in together? Fuck it._ She tossed the tools away, backed up, and took a running start. She slammed her shoulder into the door and it caved, because the lock sucked and it feeds the plot. She tumbled through and pelted Delsin with three especially rotten tomatoes. Now, I wish I could say he dodged them or sliced them in half with his hand or something, but he ate shit. The first one burst on his head, and the other two were torso shots. In his defense, he leaned on the shower wall cooly, "You know I'm showering anyways, right?"

"Fuck's sake! Don't you ever get angry?" Ellie kicked the cabinets and stormed out of the shower.

"No," He called after her, a grin on his face. "I don't ever get mad." That just made Ellie angrier, for some reason. He heard her kicking/punching things and decided _It's probably all the stress. Joel's still in the hospital, and last time I checked we were still in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Ugh, these tomatoes smell awful. Was she saving these or something? _He sniffed in distaste and resumed the shower right as something in the room over shattered. _Note to self: possible anger issues. _

Ellie looked down at the vase, now in sharp, dangerous pieces. "Shit." She grabbed a broom from the broom closet, and started to sweep up after her somewhat-dangerous mess.

"Why do you do that?" She turned around to see Delsin with a towel wrapped around his waist and his dark hair plastered to his forehead. His blue eyes searched hers for an explanation.

"Do what?" She parried lamely, sweeping up more vase.

"This. Break things, get angry over failed pranks, and just get angry at everything." He took the broom from her and started to sweep as she held the pan.

Ellie rolled her eyes and sighed, " Probably because Joel is in the hospital, you idiot." She shoved him lightly. "Even though we got the medicine, I don't feel any better."

"I can imagine." Delsin straightened up, done sweeping, "He's like a dad, Ellie. Of course you feel bad." He slid his arms around her, "I know how you feel. It's the same way I felt when my dad died."

Ellie looked up at him, "I'm sorry Del."

"Hey, it's water under the bridge. I happened, and there's nothing I could have done to change that. I'm okay now."

"Oh, just shut up." Ellie hugged him tighter.

Delsin did as he was told.

((Alright, I need some help here.

Joel can only get [almost] killed so many times and there are just about 6.8 Billion Zombies.

Where should the story go from here? PM me or comment.))


End file.
